Bybit, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, released its Q1 2026 BTC spot execution analysis this week, claiming its Rapid Price Improvement (RPI) mechanism consistently delivered lower trading slippage than two leading global exchanges. For a $10,000 BTC/USDT order, Bybit's average slippage was roughly 52% lower than Exchange A and 84% lower than Exchange B.
How RPI works
Bybit's RPI mechanism matches eligible spot orders against a dedicated pool of liquidity providers quoting prices inside the visible bid-ask spread. That means users can get fills at prices better than what's shown on the public order book. The feature is extended across BTC and major USD stablecoin spot trading pairs for all users — not just selected client segments.
Depth advantage over rivals
During Q1 2026, Bybit's BTC/USDT market averaged $10.4 million of executable depth within a 5-basis-point spread. That compares to $5.4 million for Exchange A and $1.9 million for Exchange B. Within a 10-basis-point spread, Bybit's average executable depth was $15.1 million, versus $11.4 million and $3.6 million for the two exchanges.
Bybit's analysis includes both standard displayed order-book liquidity and eligible RPI liquidity in its slippage calculations. Third-party exchange liquidity rankings typically rely only on publicly displayed order-book data, which may not capture RPI liquidity — a gap Bybit is clearly trying to highlight.
‘Execution quality is a meaningful measure’
Sean Ballard, Head of Derivatives and Institutional Business, Trading Risk at Bybit, said execution quality is a meaningful measure of exchange performance. The comment underscores why Bybit is pushing this data out: as exchanges compete on volume and fees, execution quality is becoming a differentiator, especially for institutional traders who care about slippage on large orders.
The unnamed exchanges remain unidentified, but the numbers suggest a significant gap. Bybit's RPI mechanism is one way to stand out in a crowded market. Whether the two rivals respond with their own data or improvements is an open question.
