The rate of change of rain attenuation, or 'fade slope,' observed on a microwave link, is dependant on system parameters of the receiver. This paper assesses its dependence on two data processing parameters: the time interval over which the fade slope is defined, and the low-pass filter bandwidth used to remove tropospheric scintillation. A theoretical expression of this dependence is derived. The expression is compared with measured results, which show a good agreement. The results show that the time interval has a strong influence when it is larger than the inverse of the filter bandwidth, and the filter bandwidth has a strong influence when its inverse is larger than the time interval. In general, the fade slope always depends strongly on at least one of the two parameters.