Price impact, explained: why your own trade moves the price
BlazePhoenix Engineering · updated 2026-07-18 · 4 min · written from the deployed bytecode
By Mitra — developer of the BlazePhoenix protocol.
Abstract in 15 languages · resumo · resumen · 摘要 · 要旨 · ملخص
English — Price impact is the cost you cause yourself: trading against a finite pool moves the price as you take tokens — and a thin pool punishes size hardest.
Português — O price impact é o custo que tu próprio causas: negociar contra um pool finito move o preço à medida que tiras tokens — e um pool fino pune mais o tamanho.
Español — El price impact es el coste que tú mismo causas: operar contra un pool finito mueve el precio al retirar tokens — y un pool delgado castiga más el tamaño.
Français — Le price impact est le coût que vous causez vous-même : échanger contre un pool fini déplace le prix, et un pool mince punit surtout la taille.
Deutsch — Price Impact ist der Preis, den du selbst verursachst: Handel gegen einen endlichen Pool bewegt den Kurs — dünne Pools bestrafen Größe am härtesten.
Русский — Price impact — издержки, которые вы создаёте сами: торговля против конечного пула двигает цену, и тонкий пул сильнее наказывает за размер.
Türkçe — Price impact kendi yarattığınız maliyettir: sınırlı havuzla işlem fiyatı hareket ettirir; ince havuz en çok büyüklüğü cezalandırır.
العربية — التأثير السعري تكلفة تسببها بنفسك: التداول مقابل تجمّع محدود يحرّك السعر، والتجمّع الضحل يعاقب الحجم أكثر.
हिन्दी — प्राइस इम्पैक्ट वह लागत है जो आप खुद पैदा करते हैं: सीमित पूल पर ट्रेड कीमत हिलाता है, और पतला पूल बड़े आकार को सबसे ज़्यादा दंड देता है।
日本語 — プライスインパクトは自分で生む費用です。有限のプールに対する取引が価格を動かし、薄いプールほど大口を強く罰します。
中文 — 价格影响是你自己造成的成本：对着有限资金池交易会推动价格，而越浅的池子对大额越不友好。
한국어 — 프라이스 임팩트는 스스로 만드는 비용입니다. 한정된 풀에 대한 거래가 가격을 움직이며, 얕은 풀일수록 큰 규모를 더 벌합니다.
Bahasa Indonesia — Price impact adalah biaya yang Anda sebabkan sendiri: berdagang melawan pool terbatas menggerakkan harga, dan pool tipis paling menghukum ukuran.
বাংলা — প্রাইস ইমপ্যাক্ট হলো আপনার নিজের তৈরি খরচ: সীমিত পুলে ট্রেড দাম সরিয়ে দেয়, আর পাতলা পুল বড় আকারকে সবচেয়ে বেশি শাস্তি দেয়।
Filipino — Ang price impact ay gastos na ikaw ang dahilan: ang pag-trade laban sa limitadong pool ay gumagalaw ng presyo, at pinakamabigat ang parusa sa laki kapag manipis ito.
Slippage is the price moving because of everyone else. Price impact is the price moving because of YOU. When you swap against a pool, you are literally buying from a finite pile of tokens — the more you take, the more expensive each remaining token gets. That climb, from the first token you buy to the last, is your price impact. It is not a fee anyone charges; it is the shape of the pool.
A tiny trade in a deep pool has near-zero impact — you barely dent the pile. The same trade in a shallow pool can cost you 10, 20, 50% because you are eating most of the available liquidity. This is why the exact same swap can be free on one venue and brutal on another: it is not the venue being greedy, it is the pool being thin.
How to keep it small
Three habits: (1) size to the pool, not to your wallet — if a pool holds $20k and you want to move $10k, expect real pain; split it or wait. (2) Check REAL depth first, because a pool can advertise depth it does not hold — the free Pool X-Ray on this site shows advertised vs on-chain balances and even estimates your max safe trade (the size that stays under ~1% impact). (3) Prefer an aggregator that routes across several pools, so your order is spread instead of crushing one.
The honest math: on a constant-product pool, buying a fraction f of a token's reserve costs you roughly f/(1−f) extra on price. Take 1% of the pool and you pay ~1% impact; take 50% and you pay ~100% — the price doubles under you. That curve is why size, not luck, decides your fill.
Do not trust this page — reproduce it
Every claim above is checkable against the chain. Start here:
quote 100 units of a token, then 10,000 units of the same token — the worsening rate per unit IS your price impact, and it is bigger on thinner poolsContracts are verified on every chain we deploy to — addresses in the protocol manifest. Deeper formal treatment: the whitepaper (PDF).
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