You find a strategy with a 42% annual return in backtesting. You go live. After 6 months, you're barely breaking even. Slippage and trading costs are almost always the culprit. This is one of the most common and painful lessons in quantitative trading.
What Is Slippage?
Slippage is the difference between the price at which you intend to execute an order and the price you actually get. On a limit order in a liquid market like Nifty Futures, slippage might be 1–2 points. On an options position with wide bid-ask spreads, it can be 5–15 points per trade. At 2 legs × 15 points = 30 points of slippage per Iron Condor setup.
Types of Slippage in Indian Markets
Market impact slippage: Your order moves the price. Relevant for large lot sizes or illiquid strikes. Timing slippage: Between your signal and execution, price has moved. Common for market orders on fast-moving underlyings. Spread slippage: You buy at ask and sell at bid, always paying half the bid-ask spread.
Real Cost Estimates by Strategy Type
Nifty Futures intraday (1-2 trades/day): ₹15–25 round-trip per lot. Nifty options single leg (ATM): ₹20–40 round-trip per lot. Iron Condor 4-leg: ₹80–150 round-trip per lot. Equity intraday large-cap: 0.03–0.05% per side.
Practical rule: Assume 0.1% slippage on each trade for equity and 5–10 points per options leg. If your strategy isn't profitable after applying these, it won't be profitable live.
How BacktestHub Models Costs
BacktestHub lets you configure brokerage, STT, exchange charges, and slippage per instrument type. The engine applies these costs on every simulated fill, giving you a realistic P&L that reflects what your account would actually look like — not what it would look like in a frictionless world.
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