# How does a TWAP order work on Hyperliquid?

Stage 4 · Raise the frame (orders and bots that follow the plan) · Updated 2026-10-29

A TWAP order on Hyperliquid splits one large order into smaller suborders sent at fixed intervals of 30 seconds or more, over a running time from 5 minutes to 7 days. Each suborder may slip at most 3%. If suborders fall behind the time-weighted target, later ones grow to catch up, to at most three times the normal size.

## In short

- A **TWAP** (time-weighted average price) order spreads one order through time, in suborders at intervals of 30 seconds or more.
- On Hyperliquid, $10,000 over one hour is about **121** suborders of about **$83**, one every 30 seconds.
- Each suborder has a maximum slippage of **3%**. The running time is 5 minutes to 7 days, and the order must be at least $100.
- The target at any moment is the elapsed share of the running time times the total size. Behind it, suborders grow to catch up, to at most **three times** the normal size, and may not fully catch up.
- Randomize varies each suborder’s size by up to 20% either way. A trigger price starts the TWAP; a max or min price ends it.

## What a TWAP order is

TWAP stands for time-weighted average price. A TWAP order takes one large order and divides it into smaller suborders sent at a fixed interval over a running time, so the order is spread through time instead of meeting the book all at once.

Hyperliquid’s own example: $10,000 over one hour is split into about 121 suborders of about $83, sent every 30 seconds. The same amount over four days is about 1,000 suborders of about $10, one roughly every 6 minutes.

## The target and the catch-up

At any moment the order has a target: the elapsed share of the running time times the total size. Twenty minutes into an hour, the target is a third of the order.

Suborders that do not fill leave the order behind its target. Later suborders then grow to catch up, to at most three times the normal size, and Hyperliquid’s docs warn that the order may still not fully catch up by the end. In the figure, ten minutes without fills leave it $1,667 behind; at three times the normal size it is back on target at minute 35.

## The limits

Each suborder has a maximum slippage of 3%. The running time can be anything from 5 minutes to 7 days, and the order must be at least $100 in total.

During the post-only period of a network upgrade, TWAP suborders do not fill, just as ordinary market orders do not. That is one way an order falls behind its target.

Three options shape it further. Randomize varies each suborder’s size by up to 20% either way. A trigger price holds the TWAP until the mark price reaches it. A max or min price ends the TWAP when the mark price reaches it.

## What it does and does not do

Spreading an order through time keeps each suborder small against the book, so each one meets less of the book than the whole order would at once. [Maker and taker](https://buildtrade.app/guides/maker-and-taker/) shows how one large order eats through several price levels.

It does not promise a better average. The price can move a long way during the running time, and the average is whatever the suborders filled at.

## On Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid runs the schedule on its side. The order is sent once, with its total size, a running time in minutes and the Randomize choice, and the venue sends each suborder.

In BuildTrade™, the order ticket has no TWAP. A TWAP placed on Hyperliquid directly is listed in Open Orders and is edited on Hyperliquid, not in the app.

## $10,000 over one hour

_Example numbers._

Hyperliquid’s example order, with ten minutes, from minute 20 to minute 30, in which no suborder fills, and every catch-up suborder at the full three times the normal size.

- Order size: $10,000
- Running time, minutes: 60
- Suborders, about: 121
- Each suborder, about: $83
- Largest catch-up suborder, about: $248
- Most slippage per suborder: 3%

| Minutes in | Share of the time | Target | Bought | Behind |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| 10 | 17% | $1,667 | $1,667 | $0 |
| 20 | 33% | $3,333 | $3,333 | $0 |
| 25 | 42% | $4,167 | $3,333 | $833 |
| 30 | 50% | $5,000 | $3,333 | $1,667 |
| 35 | 58% | $5,833 | $5,833 | $0 |
| 60 | 100% | $10,000 | $10,000 | $0 |

By minute 30 the order is $1,667 behind. Catch-up suborders at up to three times the normal size close the gap by minute 35, if each fills in full. With a longer stall, or less on the book to fill against, the order can end short of its total.

## Mistakes that cost traders money

- **Expecting the average to beat the market.** A TWAP spreads the order through time. Its average is whatever the suborders filled at while the price moved.
- **Assuming it always completes.** Suborders that do not fill leave it behind, and Hyperliquid’s docs say it may not fully catch up by the end.
- **Ignoring the slippage on each suborder.** Each suborder accepts up to 3% of slippage. On a thin market that cost repeats with every suborder.
- **Running it too short for its size.** A shorter running time means larger suborders, and each one takes more of the book at once.
- **Treating Randomize as a price setting.** It varies the size of each suborder by up to 20% either way. It does not set a price.

## Try it in BuildTrade™

For a one-hour TWAP, divide the size by about 121, the number of 30-second suborders in an hour. That is roughly what each suborder takes from the book before any catch-up; compare it with the sizes in the Book tab on the Trade screen.

Open the app: https://trade.buildtrade.app/register

## Words in this guide

- [Mark price](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#mark-price)
- [Market order](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#market-order)
- [Slippage](https://buildtrade.app/glossary/#slippage)

## Sources

- [Order types](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/order-types), Hyperliquid Docs.
- [Exchange endpoint](https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/for-developers/api/exchange-endpoint), Hyperliquid Docs.

BuildTrade™ is independent of, and not endorsed by, Hyperliquid.

Web page: https://buildtrade.app/guides/how-twap-orders-work/