Why did my Margin Auto Close (TP/SL) trigger at a different price than I expected? – Bitvavo Help Center

Summary
This article explains why your margin Auto Close ("Take-Profit" or "Stop-Loss") might trigger at a price different from the last traded price. Auto Close monitors the order book's best bid or ask instead of the last traded price to ensure the best possible execution. Learn how this works, review a practical example, and understand what happens during a liquidation.

When trading on margin, you might notice that your Auto Close orders trigger at a price that does not exactly match the last traded price on the Bitvavo exchange or external charts. This happens because Auto Close monitors the order book rather than the last traded price.

How Auto Close monitors the order book

Auto Close does not watch the last traded price. Instead, it watches the order book. Specifically:

For a short position, your "Stop-Loss" and "Take-Profit" are checked against the best bid (the highest price someone is currently willing to buy at).
For a long position, they are checked against the best ask (the lowest price someone is currently willing to sell at).

This is a small but important difference, and it can explain two things customers often ask about:

Why the closing price does not match the price on the Bitvavo exchange or an external chart (CoinMarketCap, TradingView, etc.). These candle charts plot the last trade price, not the order book.
Why the price that triggered the close does not appear anywhere in the market's trade history. The best bid or ask can briefly reach a level without a trade actually happening there.

Spread and slippage protection

Regular "Take-Profit" and "Stop-Loss" orders benefit from the exact same spread and slippage protection applied to manual position opens and closes. This ensures your order is settled under the most favorable market conditions possible.

Why use the best bid or ask?

The last traded price only tells you what someone else paid a moment ago. It does not tell you what price is actually available to you right now. The order book provides this real-time availability.

Using the best bid or ask is also the more conservative, protective choice:

It reflects the price your position could realistically be closed at if the market moved that far.
For most customers, this works in their favor. Your "Stop-Loss" or "Take-Profit" checks the price at which you could get the best execution, rather than waiting for a trade to print at an unfavorable level.

A worked example

Say you open a 10x leveraged short on ADA/EUR at €1.80. You set your "Take-Profit" around +50% (roughly €0.90). As the price drops, you trail your "Stop-Loss" up to €1.61, which is still comfortably in profit compared to your entry.

Now imagine the market gets a brief, thin-liquidity spike:

Last traded price (visible in trade history or charts): €1.58
Best bid in the order book at that same moment: €1.61

Even though no trade printed at €1.61, that was the best bid available in the order book at that instant. Because your "Stop-Loss" is monitored against the best bid, it triggers here, and the market order used to close your position gets filled at or around that level.

As a result, your position closes near €1.61, exactly at your intended "Stop-Loss". If you go looking for €1.61 in the trade history, you will not find it, because the trade that actually filled at €1.61 was your closing order. By the time it lands in the public trade feed, the book has already moved on. If the book moves again quickly, your fill can end up slightly better or worse than €1.61 too. This is the market order finding real available liquidity, not the exact number in your "Stop-Loss" field.

What happens during a liquidation?

A liquidation occurs when the market moves against your position to the point where your account falls below the required maintenance margin. During a liquidation, the process differs from a standard "Stop-Loss":

Immediate closure: The primary objective during a liquidation is to close the position as quickly as possible to prevent further losses.
Maximum balance protection: In margin trading, you can never lose more than your initial investment (the margin you allocated to the position).

Note: If the market spread is exceptionally wide or there is heavy slippage at the time of liquidation, Bitvavo will cover any excess costs (losses exceeding your initial margin). Your account balance will never go negative.

Frequently asked questions

Does this mean the platform made up a price?

No. The best bid or ask is a real, live price that someone in the order book is willing to trade at. It is just not the same series as the trade history chart.

Can I lose more than my position allows?

No. Auto Close uses the same execution logic and the same spread and slippage handling as any other margin order.