Hyperliquid scale orders explained

What it is

A scale order is a ladder of limit orders placed in one action. You give the ticket a total size, a start price, an end price and a number of orders, and it spreads them evenly across the range.

Nothing here is exotic. You could place the same orders one at a time; the ticket just saves you doing it and keeps the spacing exact.

What makes it useful is not convenience but position: every order in the ladder rests on the book, waiting. That has two consequences, and both are in your favour.

Why every fill is a maker fill

An order that rests before it fills pays the maker fee. At the entry tier that is roughly a third of the taker fee, and at higher volume tiers it reaches zero.

So a ladder is the cheapest way to build a position, on both counts: cheaper fees because you are providing liquidity rather than taking it, and no slippage because each order fills at the price you named or not at all.

Compare the three ways to get into the same position:

The ladder wins on cost and loses on certainty. That is the trade you are making, and it is a good one on a planned entry and a bad one on an urgent exit.

Building one

1. Choose the range from the chart, not from a percentage

   Every price in the range has to be one you would actually be happy to be filled at. A ladder whose far end is a level you do not believe in is just a worse version of a single order.

   You should see a start and end price that both make sense as entries

2. Set the number of orders

   More orders means a smoother average and a more crowded orders panel. A handful is usually enough; dozens rarely improve the average by as much as they cost in attention.

   You should see a ladder fine enough to average well, coarse enough to manage

3. Decide the skew

   An even ladder splits the size equally. Skewing toward the far end puts more size at better prices and fills less often. Skewing toward the near end does the reverse.

   You should see size weighted toward the end of the range you care about

4. Add post-only if the near end is close to the market

   If the first rung sits at or through the current price it will execute immediately and pay taker, quietly defeating the point. The ALO flag rejects it instead, so you notice.

   You should see orders that are rejected rather than filled as taker

5. Attach reduce-only when the ladder is an exit

   Scaling out uses the same mechanism in reverse. Without reduce-only, a ladder that overshoots the position opens a new one the other way, one rung at a time.

   You should see orders that can only shrink the position

Reading the skew properly

Skew is the setting people either ignore or misuse, and it is worth one paragraph of thought.

Weighted to the far end means most of your size waits at the best prices. Your average entry is better if the market gets there, and your position stays small if it does not. This suits a view you are confident about at a level, and it is the version that leaves you underexposed in a market that simply runs away.

Weighted to the near end means most of the size fills early. You get the position on more reliably, at a worse average. This suits an entry you want to have on rather than one you want to optimise.

Neither is correct in general. The question is whether you would be more annoyed by a bad average or by no position, and only you can answer that before the fact.

Where a ladder does real work

Entering size without moving the price. Resting orders add depth rather than consuming it, so a ladder is the one entry method that cannot push the market away from you.

Averaging into volatility. On a market whose ordinary daily range is wide, one entry price is close to arbitrary. A range is an honest admission of that.

Taking profit in pieces. Scaling out across a range removes the single hardest decision in a winning trade, which is picking the exit. You take some at each level and stop trying to be right about the top.

Providing liquidity deliberately. At higher volume tiers the maker side pays a rebate, and a resting ladder is how you collect it.

Where it fails

When the price gaps through the whole range. Everything fills at once, at prices that were sensible thirty seconds ago. A ladder does not protect against a fast move; it protects against a slow one.

When you needed the position. Half a ladder filled is half a position. If the trade only works fully sized, a ladder is the wrong tool and a TWAP or a single order is the right one.

When you forget the unfilled rungs. Resting orders reserve margin and can still fill days later. Cancel the remainder when the trade is over, or check the open orders panel before you wonder why your withdrawable balance is smaller than you expect.

Ladder or TWAP, decided in one line

If the price you pay matters more than whether you fill, ladder it. If filling matters more than the price, TWAP it. Everything else on both pages is detail.