Slippage Risk
Slippage risk is the possibility that an asset will be executed at a price different from the expected price at the time an order is placed. In the context of liquidations, this occurs when the size of the collateral being sold is large enough to move the market price significantly during the transaction.
As a liquidator attempts to sell the seized assets, the lack of sufficient liquidity in the market causes the execution price to deteriorate. This effectively reduces the profitability of the liquidation and can lead to losses if the realized price is lower than the debt being covered.
Market microstructure factors, such as order book depth and volume, directly influence the degree of slippage. Managing slippage is essential for participants involved in high-frequency liquidation activities.