How a chase order works
A normal limit order sits where you put it. If price moves away, it stays behind and never fills. A chase order watches the top of the book and re-submits the order at the new best price every time it changes by a minimum number of ticks, on a refresh interval of a couple of seconds. Because every replacement is post-only (ALO on Hyperliquid), the order never takes liquidity and never pays the taker fee.
A distance limit caps how far the chase will follow. If you start chasing a buy at $77,300 with a 0.3% limit and price runs to $77,540, the chase stops and leaves the remaining size unfilled rather than buying into a spike. You can also stop it manually at any point.
When to use one
Chase suits entries and exits where you want to be filled soon but not at any price: scaling into a position while the market chops, closing a position after a news move has already happened, or executing on a venue where the taker fee is a large share of your expected edge. On a maker-taker schedule the difference is typically several basis points per side, which compounds quickly for active traders.
It is the wrong tool when you need certainty. In a one-way move the best price keeps stepping away and the order keeps repricing behind it; the distance limit will eventually stop it with size unfilled. For a stop-loss or a fill you cannot afford to miss, use a market order with a slippage cap instead.
Example: closing a 5 ETH long after a spike
WORKED EXAMPLEETH jumps 2% on a headline and a trader wants out of a 5 ETH long. The spread has widened to $1.20; the taker fee is 0.045% and the maker fee 0.015%.
- Order
- Sell 5 ETH, chase, reduce-only
- Start
- Best ask $2,543.60, best bid $2,542.40
- Refresh
- Every 2 seconds, reprice after 2 ticks
- Distance limit
- 0.25% ($6.36)
- Fills
- 2.1 ETH at $2,543.60, 2.9 ETH at $2,542.90
- Saved
- About $3.80 in fees plus $3 of spread versus a market sell
The order repriced three times in 14 seconds and averaged $2,543.19, above the starting mid. A market sell would have started at the $2,542.40 bid and walked lower from there.