Trading protections: what they are and when they apply

This article explains the automatic trading protections on Bitvavo that prevent your orders from executing at unexpected prices. Learn about spread, reference, and placement price protections, and how they keep your trading experience predictable.

When you trade on Bitvavo, automatic checks run on your order to stop it filling at a price far from where the asset is currently trading. They work without any setup from you, and most of the time you will not notice them.

This article covers three of these checks. For each one, you will find what it is, when it applies, and what happens if it is triggered.

• Spread price protection: Limits how far the price you get can drift from the best price available on Bitvavo. Applies to market orders.
• Reference price protection: Checks that the price your order would fill at stays within a set range of the reference price, which is calculated from price data across several external exchanges. Applies to market orders, price guarantee orders, and limit orders.
• Placement price protection: Checks that the price you set is not too far from where the asset is currently trading, mainly to catch input errors before they become a live order. Applies to limit orders, at the moment you place them.

Select a protection above to see how it works, when it applies, and what to do next.

Why these protections exist

Together, these checks keep trading predictable. Most of them stop your order filling at a price far from where an asset is currently trading, and placement price protection catches input errors before they turn into a live order.