What Is Slippage in Crypto (and How to Avoid Losing to It)

You hit buy at one price and end up paying another. That gap is “slippage,” and on low-liquidity tokens it can quietly eat a big chunk of your money — or be exploited against you.

Why slippage happens

On a decentralized exchange, your trade moves the price as it executes. The less liquidity in the pool, the more your own order pushes the price against you.

Slippage tolerance

Your wallet lets you set a maximum slippage. Too low and trades fail; too high and you can get a much worse price than expected — which scammers and bots exploit.

The hidden danger: high slippage tokens

• Some scam tokens require very high slippage to trade at all — often because of hidden taxes.
• If a token only works at 30%+ slippage, that's a warning, not a quirk.
• High slippage settings also open you up to sandwich attacks.

How to protect yourself

• Trade tokens with deep liquidity where possible.
• Keep slippage as low as the trade allows.
• Be suspicious of any token that demands very high slippage.

Check liquidity first

Slippage risk comes straight from thin liquidity. ChainInspector Suite scores a token's liquidity and price impact so you know what you're walking into.