Spread and slippage: the hidden costs of a trade

At any moment there are two prices: the highest anyone will pay (the bid) and the lowest anyone will sell for (the ask). The gap between them is the spread.

Bid (what you get if you sell):   $99.90
Ask (what you pay if you buy):    $100.10
Spread:                            $0.20  (0.2%)

If you buy and then sell straight away, with no price change at all, you still lose the spread.

1. 1You buy 10 coins at the ask, $100.10 each: you pay $1,001.
2. 2You sell them at once at the bid, $99.90 each: you get $999.
3. 3You lost $2 without the price moving.

Big, busy coins like Bitcoin have tiny spreads. Small coins can have wide ones.

Slippage is when your order fills at a slightly different price than you saw, because the price moved in the moment it took to fill.

You see $100 and press Buy for $1,000 (expecting 10 coins).
The price jumps; it fills at $100.50.
→ You get 9.95 coins instead of 10.

Only so many coins are on sale at each price. A big order uses up the cheapest ones, then has to pay more for the rest.

No. Tradeground fills every order at the last synced price, with only the 0.1% fee on top. That is easier than real markets, so expect real trades to cost a little more.