Top 10 Decentralized Crypto Exchanges DEX Aggregator 2023

Read this review to select the best Decentralized Crypto Exchanges (DEX Aggregator) by comparing the features, pros, cons, etc. Also, know how decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges work:

Decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges are those exchanges built on top of blockchain or technology that allow storage of the same immutable ledger across multiple computer nodes that run the blockchain.

These exchanges use smart contracts to facilitate trading between one user and another, use liquidity pools to facilitate trading volumes and trading pairs, and allow for peer-to-peer trading of crypto between users. DEXes are famous for very low transaction costs, given this technological capability.

There are variations – some DEXes like Binance DEX use APIs to provide centralized order books and they are mostly characterized by offering additional products like lending, margin trading, borrowing, charting, etc.

Decentralized Crypto Exchanges – Review

Decentralized crypto exchanges contrast the centralized versions that are not primarily built on blockchain and use centralized order books through which users trade with each other.

This tutorial delves into how decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges work and lists the top DEXes that you can use for easy and cheap transactions.

Top 8 DEXes by daily trading volumes:

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What is DEX Crypto Exchange?

• True DEXes allow for swapping or direct (from one user to another) trading of cryptocurrencies and hence do not allow for trading crypto against USD, Euro, or other fiat currencies unless the wrapped versions of them.
• On the contrary, centralized exchanges use database platforms hence management is central to a central authority. Order books on centralized exchanges are stored and managed on databases. Most centralized exchanges today, of course, keep private data like the private keys off of these databases.
• Decentralized exchanges use smart contracts (some sort of automated code that completes a trade based on the fulfillment of a certain order obligation by the user and buyer) to facilitate trade between one user and another.
• Centralized exchanges use an order book, which has a list of buying and selling orders placed by and pooled from buyers and sellers. The volume of buy and sell orders in a centralized exchange influences the price of a cryptocurrency.
• Smart contracts enable trading without a middle party or third party; hence, trades happen directly between users and at a very low cost. Decentralized exchanges determine the crypto price algorithmically, with some using API-based or other liquidity pools to provide liquidity, although some retain centralized order books.
• Decentralized transactions are recorded directly on the blockchain instead of a company’s database. Traders also keep and manage their crypto in digital wallets instead of custodial centralized platforms that keep the private keys.
• A DEX exchange crypto user would have to use the private keys to recover the wallet and crypto on their own instead of contacting the company operating a centralized database-based exchange to do it for them.
• For an advanced user, a DEX is more appropriate concerning storing and trading crypto. A beginner would probably prefer a centralized exchange because it removes the key management difficulties, although they can learn easily.
• For unknown or new crypto exchanges that are starting, users (beginner or advanced) would rather prefer decentralized exchanges because of trust issues. They will always have their crypto even when the scammer closes down.

Types of Decentralized Exchanges

Decentralized exchanges either use centralized order books or atomic swaps over the blockchain. The latter are peer-to-peer smart contract-based trading platforms on which a crypto price is determined by liquidity pools.

Liquidity pools mechanisms through which users’ crypto assets are pooled together to act as market makers and provide the needed pairs for trading and as much trading volume as would be necessary for users of that exchange.

Liquidity pools use automated market maker decentralized finance, Ethereum, and other blockchain-based technologies. Liquidity providers use automated market makers to provide a pot of tokens and are incentivized to provide liquidity.

Once liquidity is pooled from different users on a given decentralized exchange, traders on that exchange will trade tokens against the provided pool of those specific tokens.

Crypto in a DEX is stored off the blockchain while information about its trading stays on-chain. They include Uniswap, Curve, SushiSwap, DoDo, Balancer, Banco, Kyber, and Gnosis.

When exploring what is DEX crypto? we saw that those that use centralized order books have the buy and sell orders compiled and the spreads between the buy and sell orders determine the order book depth and the market price. These exchanges include dYdX, Nash, Tomo DEX, ViteX, Loopring Exchange, Binance DEX, and DDEX.

Decentralized exchanges that use DEX aggregators have mechanisms, such as APIs, to pool liquidity from centralized exchanges. This solves the problem of the absence of some trading pairs or volumes on these DEXes. They may also use liquidity DEX aggregators and other different protocols and mechanisms. They include 1inch exchanges and DeversiFi.

DEXes FAQs

Q #1) What exchanges are decentralized?

Answer: DexGuru, Uniswap, PancakeSwap, Curve Finance, dYdx, and AirSwap are some of the decentralized exchanges we have.

Decentralized exchanges are categorized based on how they source and organize their order books and what technologies they use. DEX exchange crypto users should know that these use blockchain and support instant crypto swaps at very low transaction fees compared to centralized counterparts.

Q #2) What is the best-decentralized exchange?

Answer: The best-decentralized exchange can be defined based on the features against what a user wants. Most decentralized exchanges today provide additional products and services beyond peer-to-peer swapping of tokens/cryptos. They can, for instance, provide staking, lending, borrowing, and others.

The best-decentralized exchanges include DexGuru, Uniswap, PancakeSwap, Curve Finance, dYdx, and AirSwap.

Q #3) Are decentralized exchanges legal?

Answer: Yes, non-scam decentralized exchanges operate within the crypto legal framework that allows platforms to facilitate peer-to-peer trading between users without the need for AML/KYC or other tax obligations under the latest Infrastructure law.

Peer-to-peer marketplaces are legal in terms of the latest legal regulation in the United States and many other countries. Many other DEXes play safe by acquiring a license to satisfy regulatory compliance as exchanges or brokers.

Q #4) Can US citizens use decentralized exchanges?

Answer: Yes. Decentralized exchanges are legal to use in the United States, both for buying and selling cryptocurrencies even without meeting KYC and AML procedures, since they are non-custodial. For instance, swapping tokens over any DEX is legal without any doubt.

Many other DEXes provide products like staking, borrowing, lending, and buying crypto with fiat/USD or other national currencies. Most of these DEXes where the company acts as a broker may need to adhere to AML and KYC and other regulations.

Q #5) How are decentralized exchanges regulated in the United States?

Answer: Non-custodial true decentralized exchanges are exempt from AML, KYC, and other regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions, just like many other apps, because the user retains their crypto in their wallet and the trading is peer-to-peer.

Others that provide additional products that require centralized order books or third-party involvement, like buying or selling in USD/other currencies directly, may fall under certain regulations. Ideally, an exchange/company acting as a broker in such a business puts the need for the exchange to adhere to AML and other regulations.

List of the Best Decentralized Crypto Exchanges

Popularly known DEX Aggregator list:

1. DexGuru
2. dydX
3. Uniswap
4. PancakeSwap
5. Curve
6. AirSwap
7. Balancer
8. Bancor
9. Thorswap
10. QuickSwap

Comparison Table of Best DEX Aggregator

Detailed reviews:

#1) DexGuru

Best for free DEX trading across multiple blockchains.

DexGuru allows users to peer-trade or swap cryptocurrencies among themselves. Prices of listed cryptos are derived from real-time on-chain buy/sell transactions from liquidity pools. It provides access to multiple decentralized protocols on Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, and Arbitrum blockchains.

Users, customers, and traders can connect TrustWallet, WalletConnect wallets, MetaMask, Trezor, and Ledger wallets to trade on the DEX. With WalletConnect you can hook up many other wallets like crypto.com and Defi wallets to the exchange.

How to trade on DexGuru:

• Sign up for the exchange. This allows you to trade without even connecting a wallet. Deposit crypto and trade. More features are available to connect to a wallet through WalletConnect. Choose either QR Code or Mobile Wallet and click/tap Connect. This will detect installed wallets. Authenticate and connect. Approve sign-in from your wallet when prompted. Return to dex.guru website.
• Deposit a token to spend to buy another or trade.
• Return to the exchange website. Tap/click Market then Buy/Sell and select the crypto you need to trade in and enter the amount and Tap approve. The token has to be approved for a first buy/sell on the exchange (simply click/tap the approval button after you select the token to trade). For first-time buying, click/tap confirm once the token trading is approved and the trading limit is raised.

Features:

• List of historical transactions including real-time transaction flows, charting tools, price trackers, etc. Information on liquidity amount, volume, and other things are available. Volume is shown for each token listed and price.
• Search for cryptos and add them to your favorite list.
• Connect multiple wallets and monitor balances.
• APIs for connecting to other platforms, such as integrating exchange on the platform. APIs are also used to derive trading data including TradingView feeds, and DEX trades, among others, from the exchange.
• The exchange uses 0x Protocol API to route buy and sell swap orders on the DEX platform.
• Track the most popular tokens and the trending ones.
• Upcoming platform tokens.
• NFT minting.

Pros:

• Support for newer tokens.
• True peer-to-peer with different stablecoins supported.
• High liquidity and pool activity.
• Secure due to the decentralized nature of the platform.
• Multiple wallets are supported.

Cons:

• It does not support buying and selling crypto with or for USD and other national currencies.
• No perpetual trading.

Verdict: Dex.Guru provides a truly decentralized framework for swapping tokens, including newer tokens – at zero fees (only blockchain gas/transaction fees) but it does not support fiat exchanging or buying. It could be a choice for many looking for high liquidity mining APYs instead of staking tokens elsewhere.

Pricing: Free to use except for blockchain gas fees.

Website: DexGuru

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#2) dYdX

Best for trading perpetual futures on a DEX with high leverage.

dYdX capitalizes on derivatives trading of up to 37 cryptocurrencies using advanced order types. dYdX supports the perpetual trading of up to 12 DeFi tokens like 0x, Aave, Yearn Finance, and Compound. The exchange allows users to trade perpetual futures with up to 20x leverage. The deposit minimum is just $10.

The perpetual futures exchange is based on layer -2 blockchain but utilizes centralized order books. User funds are locked into smart contracts and hence the exchange is pretty secure. It supports cross-margining, meaning an account can open multiple positions that share the same collateral held.

The exchange allows traders to connect very many wallets, including MetaMask, imToken, Coinbase Wallet, Trust, Rainbow, Huobi Wallet, Coin98, TokenPocket, WalletConnect, and other mobile and QR-code-based wallets.

How to trade on dYdX:

• Sign up for the exchange. Verify the account when needed.
• Deposit USDC or other stablecoins bought elsewhere with fiats like USD/Euro or other.
• Click/tap on the All Markets button and select the pair you want to trade. Proceed to open the position. Enter the amount and choose the type of order. You can add leverage if your account qualifies. Monitor the account leverage from the Accounts tab.
• Make sure to understand details like funding rate, interest rate, etc.

Features:

• Earn dYdX tokens for each trade you make on the platform.
• Leverage trading.
• Risk management using advanced risk management tools.
• Track open trading positions, orders, and trading history.
• Customize trading pairs by 24-hr volume or change or open interest.
• Monitor order book depth, real-time trades, price changes, and price charts per trading pair.
• Monitor trader rankings by trading volume in 24hrs, 7 days, 30 days, and all-time.
• Trading competitions, including daily and league competitions.

Pros:

• Highly safe exchange given the platform’s decentralized nature.
• No-fee trading for those with huge 30-day trading volume.
• Discount on trading fees offered for holding Hedgies NFT tokens.

Cons:

• No fiat-crypto trading is supported.
• Fewer tokens are supported.

Verdict: dYdX started with spot trading but now deals in perpetual futures trading and is one of the few DEXes offering perpetual futures including for DeFi tokens, at a very low cost. Not to fail to mention its leading innovation cross-collateralizing functionality.

Trading fees: Fee depends on 30-day trading volume and varies from 0.020% maker and 0.050% taker for below $1 million 30-day volume to 0.00% maker and 0.0.20% taker for 2 million or more 30-day volume. Six tiers. Holding Hedgies NFT gives a discount of between 3% for 100 tokens held to 50% for 5 million tokens or more held.

Website: dYdX

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#3) Uniswap

Best for liquidity mining with 100% swap fees going to liquidity providers.

Uniswap is a crypto smart contracts and DeFiabilit ecosystem with blockchain, exchange, and platform tokens. The largest DEX on Ethereum provides users with a functionalitydApps to swap 80+ ERC-20 tokens instantly, earn passive income for staked crypto, and browse or build their decentralized applications on the blockchain.

It also acts as an automated market maker to allow third parties to provide liquidity to the exchange and dApps built and running on the blockchain.

The exchange supports swapping. It does not have a centralized order book, third-party custody, and no private order-matching engine, as it is a true peer-to-peer decentralized crypto exchange. The exchange runs on the exchange protocol, while the factory protocol is used to add new tokens to the exchange.

Today, it also supports NFTs, DeFi, and other types of tokens.

How to trade on Uniswap:

• Visit the official Uniswap Exchange (app.uniswap.org) online or via the app (Android and iOS) and sign up.
• Connect to the wallet. Deposit crypto into the respective wallet.
• Choose the crypto to swap and the one you want to receive. Type the amount to swap, compare and review swap rates, price slippage, and the like. Click the settings icon against the Swap word to adjust the slippage tolerance or leave it at the Auto position, then adjust the desired transaction deadline.
• Confirm the transaction and proceed to buy/sell crypto on the DEX exchange.

Features:

• Swap without any trading limits.
• Very low trading fees – 0.3% which can be invested into liquidity providers.
• Supports/lists more than 80 crypto tokens based on Ethereum, including wrapped tokens.
• Expert mode allows for high slippage trades but is not recommended for beginners.

Pros:

• Supports about 80 tokens for trading.
• Additional products provide more value to the ecosystem.
• Connect to many different wallets.
• Open-source, fully decentralized, hence more secure, and there are no KYC requirements.
• Very low fees.
• Huge volumes trading – high liquidity.
• Browse and use third-party dApps.

Cons:

• Supports only Ethereum-based crypto tokens. No other types are supported.

Verdict: Uniswap is a great crypto DEX ecosystem with huge trading volumes or liquidity for anyone wanting to trade huge crypto volumes on the peer-to-peer method. The open-source platform also has extended functionality, such as automated market makers and third-party dApps such as those supporting staking.

Pricing: 0.30% per trade. Liquidity providers can create pools at 0.05%, 0.30%, and 1% fee levels.

Website: Uniswap

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#4) PancakeSwap

Best for perpetual futures trading on DEX with high leverages of 100x.

PancakeSwap lets you trade crypto and crypto perpetual futures with up to 100x leverage. It also allows users to earn on staked crypto and win crypto in a lottery. Users can also win BNB by predicting the BTC price trend. The exchange is one of the largest decentralized exchanges with 2.2 million monthly users, and a $3.9 billion total value locked or staked.

The platform is based on Binance Chain and uses crypto swaps to facilitate trading. The automated market maker also lets third parties provide trading liquidity via liquidity pools.

Users can start trading directly from their wallets after they have connected them to the exchange. No need for registration and no KYC requirements. For stakers, the platform has a token called Cake that they can stake or farm in pools. It also supports NFT collectibles.

How to trade on PancakeSwap:

• Find and open a BNB Smart Chain-compatible wallet. Buy some BEP20 tokens.
• Visit the exchange page at pancakeswap.finance.
• Click/tap unlock wallet on the website above to unlock the BNB Binance Chain compatible wallet.
• Choose the token to trade from the drop-down menu in the “From” section, enter the amount to swap, select the token to which you will swap the crypto from the “To” section, and proceed to swap by clicking/tapping the Swap button below. Check if the revealed details are correct from the window that pops up and confirm the swap.
• You can view the transaction on the Binance Chain blockchain scanner BscScan.

Features:

• Yield farming for users who want to earn CAKE rewards while providing liquidity. You get LP tokens on providing liquidity and then just lock LP tokens into a smart contract. Liquidity pools earn 0.17% of the swapping fee while 0.03% goes to the treasury, and 0.05% to CAKE buyback and earn.
• Initial Farm Offerings (IFOs) –buy into limited-time offers of newly listed tokens.
• Only Binance Smart Chain tokens (BEP tokens) are supported.
• Convert ERC20 tokens to BEP20 tokens.
• Choose slippage tolerance (0.1%, 0.50%, 1%), transaction time deadline, default transaction speed (standard, fast, and instant), and other tweaks.

Pros:

• Place limit orders in addition to swaps.
• Add liquidity easily by visiting the exchange website, selecting a valid pair, and connecting the wallet.
• Additional products like farming, liquidity provision, perpetual futures, and staking add more value to the ecosystem.
• Low trading fees and high liquidity.

Cons:

• Just 15 cryptos supported – it only supports BEP20 tokens on Binance Chain.
• No support for fiat/USD and other currencies.

Verdict: The biggest drawback in using this crypto DEX exchange compared to many others is the number of tokens listed. Despite reporting high trading volume, it supports only BEP20 although users can still use the platform to convert ERC20 tokens to BEP20 tokens.

Trading fees: 0.25%.

Website: PancakeSwap

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#5) Curve Finance

Best for liquidity mining and farming liquidity pool tokens from pools.

Curve Finance is a DEX that allows users to swap about 48 ERC20 through liquidity pools provided by other users. The user begins by loading and connecting their crypto wallet to Curve Finance through their web application.

Curve Finance is also one of the largest DEXes with over $6 billion in total value locked but the trading volume is $144 million. You can find liquidity pools for almost every crypto you want to trade.

Besides, the platform allows developers to build dApps that users can browse and use through the Curve Finance platform. It also allows users to earn passive income by locking CRV tokens – the Curve DAO token.

How to trade on Curve:

• Visit the DEX exchange website.
• Click/tap Connect wallet and proceed to connect wallet. You may then load the wallet with crypto.
• To swap the crypto deposited or earned (already on the wallet), still on the homepage, select the token to swap, enter the amount, select the token to which to swap the crypto, then tweak the other settings about slippage and time deadline. Click/tap Sell.

Features:

• Choose tiered slippage – 0.5%, 0.1%, or your custom level in percentage.
• Choose swap gas fees between standard, fast, instant, and slow packages.
• Connects to a variety of crypto wallets – including Ledger and Trezor hardware wallets. Others are those supported by WalletConnect, Portis, Torus, Fortmatic, and Coinbase.
• Support for stablecoins.
• Trading charts.
• Decentralized Autonomous Organization and other dApps hosted on the platform.

Pros:

• Huge liquidity for the tokens.
• A considerably higher number of tokens is supported for swapping compared to other DEX exchanges.
• Many liquidity pools.
• Gas fees and transaction time choices as per user preference.
• Fully decentralized and uses automated market makers, hence is secure and with low swapping fees of 0.04%.
• Functionality to allow users/customers to create pools.
• Staking CRV allows users to earn a passive income of over 3% APY.

Cons:

• No fiat/USD, Euro, and other currencies are supported for deposits or withdrawals.
• High-yield pools tend to attract liquidity but turn into low or medium-yield ones over time.

Verdict: Curve Finance presents one of the greatest DEX innovations with a huge total value locked ($6 billion-plus), functionality for users to earn through pools, and a platform token that can be staked. It also features very low trading or swapping fees compared to most DEXes.

Trading fee: 0.04%.

Website: Curve Finance

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#6) AirSwap

Best for instant multi-chain swapping on DEX. Free swapping and liquidity mining.

Not only does it have its own platform token, AirSwap lets you swap – on a peer-to-peer basis – about 250 crypto tokens, making it one of the DEX exchanges with the widest range of tokens supported. It is one of the most secure, given its decentralized nature. You do not need to register or signup to use it.

It was recently updated into a multi-chain swapping protocol.

How to trade on AirSwap:

• Visit the exchange website.
• Click Connect Wallet. Deposit crypto into your wallet.
• Select the crypto you want to exchange (the deposited crypto), enter the amount, select the crypto to which you want to exchange the token, and then proceed to swap.

Features:

• Staking to earn.
• Platform token AST – 100 ASTs required to trade.
• Trustless over-the-counter trading with smart contracts and without third-party escrows, deposits, and fees.
• AirSwap CLI – command-line swapping tool.
• Market-making algorithms – automated market-making algorithms used include Streaming, Request-for-quote, and over-the-counter.
• Supports ERC20 and ERC721 tokens.
• Upcoming – enjoy fee discounts based on AST token staked.
• Rewards on all claims are converted to a single token.

Pros:

• No deposit, withdrawal, or trading fees.
• Instant and secure peer-to-peer trades.

Cons:

• Does not support fiat to crypto exchange or trading.

Verdict: One of the greatest strengths of this DEX is no fee for trading, but it also provides just swapping, OTC, APIs, and staking products which adds value to the ecosystem.

Pricing: 0%.

Website: AirSwap

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#7) Balancer

Best for portfolio rebalancing investments and liquidity mining.

Balancer Finance lets users keep portfolios that are rebalanced to earn more. Those holding balances collect fees from traders looking for arbitrage trading opportunities.

Apart from the portfolio balancing earnings opportunities, users can trade about 110 tokens using the swapping protocol. Users can swap crypto for Ethereum. They can also create portfolio earning pools on Polygon and Arbitrum.

How to trade on Balancer:

• Visit app.balancer.fi and connect wallet. Deposit the crypto in exchange or stake it in your wallet.
• Select the token to swap, input the amount, select crypto to exchange to, preview the transactions, and continue to confirm the swap.

Features:

• Invest in already existing liquidity pools to earn interest on locked value, or create investment pools consisting of Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum blockchain tokens. These pools comprise of one or more tokens and are rebalanced in proportions and you earn from rebalancing tokens.
• Lock value into liquidity mining pools and earn part of swapping fees. Earn BAL native token LP (liquidity pool tokens when you lock value in eligible pools and stake them to earn more).
• Lock values in eligible liquidity mining pools, get veBAL tokens, and use them to multiply liquidity mining yield up to 2.5x. Use veBAL tokens for voting.
• Uses smart order routing to pool liquidity from crowd-sourced investors.

Pros:

• Liquidity pools are open to anyone.
• A large selection of tokens is supported (about 100).
• High liquidity – over $3 billion.
• Massive returns on liquidity pools.

Cons:

• Support for ERC tokens only.
• No fiat support.

Verdict: Balancer is an innovative protocol that allows users to stake their tokens in rebalanced liquidity pools comprising more than one token. They get income from this. This is in addition to swapping ERC tokens at low fees.

Pricing: Between 0.0001% and 10%.

Website: Balancer

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#8) Bancor Network

Best for automated market-making, with high APRs of up to 30%.

Bancor Network brings together developers, traders, and liquidity providers to participate in its financial marketplace. Its team innovated its first-ever automated market-making liquidity pool. Liquidity providers use automated market-making protocols to earn up to 30% APRs on 80+ tokens. It is used so by 30+ DAOs like Polygon, Synthetix, UMA, Paraswap, and others.

Traders can swap cryptos through the liquidity pools. It also supports limited order placement at a specific price in addition to instant swaps.

How to trade on Bancor:

• Visit the exchange website. Click Connect to connect a wallet (it supports the likes of MetaMask, Wallet Connect, and others). Deposit the token to your to-be-connected wallet.
• Click/tap Trade, select from the drop-down menu to pay, enter the amount, and select the token to which you will be swapping. This will indicate the amount of value.
• Confirmed the swap.

Features:

• Buy crypto with fiat through MoonPay, Simplex, Ramp, and other third parties.
• Integrate Bancor automated protocol into the application.
• Low fees due to on-chain trades done through liquidity providers.
• Stake on pools and earn from third-party token projects in addition to BNT – the platform token for Bancor. Add liquidity easily to the web app by choosing the token, clicking deposit and sending it to the relevant smart contract.
• Vote after staking vBNT tokens.

Pros:

• Instant, secure, and low-fees swaps on-chain through liquidity protocols.
• Multiple cryptos supported – over 150+ for staking in pools.
• Buying crypto with fiat/USD and other currencies supported.

Cons:

• No mobile apps.

Verdict: Bancor Network is one of the few DEXes in the exchanges that allow for buying crypto with fiat. Although this may introduce some insecure bits, it may be an added advantage for beginner users who want to buy crypto on the platform without using a third-party app.

Trading fees: Not transparent on trading fees.

Website: Bancor Network

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#9) Thorswap

Best for multi-blockchain swaps and liquidity mining, with high APYs of 10%+.

Thorswap Finance supports multi-blockchain crypto swaps without wrapped or pegged assets or counterparties. It lets people swap about 51 cryptocurrencies, both based on Synth, native Thorswap, and ERC20 tokens. With a total value locked at $358.89 million, it is of a lesser value compared to most exchanges in this list.

Other products include staking Thor tokens to get vThor for voting and governance, liquidity pools, Thor nodes, and hosted wallets.

How to trade on Thorswap:

• Visit the Thorswap website app at app.thorswap.finance.
• Click/tap Connect to connect your wallet. Deposit on the wallet. You can also send any crypto by accessing the Wallet tab.
• Click/tap Trade, select crypto to swap, click swap, enter the amount, adjust slippage from the slip button, approve, and then swap.

Features:

• iOS and Android app.
• Portfolio tracker.
• Sending crypto directly to an external wallet.
• Bond to available nodes and earn up to 10.22% APY on bonded crypto.
• Portfolio tracking – including your staking amount in different staking pools, earnings per pool, pooled value, gain and loss, and other data and information.
• Validators use smart contracts to verify transactions. ThorChain Vaults smart contracts release crypto to facilitate trading.
• Liquidity providers also exist to provide liquidity. Continuous liquidity providers also pay users to join them.
• Rune platform token.

Pros:

• Quite several cryptocurrencies are supported for trading.
• Low fees.
• Decentralized and secure exchange.
• High liquidity APY.

Cons:

• Not transparent in terms of fees.

Verdict: Thorswap lets you trade crypto through instant and low-fee swaps across multiple blockchains. It supports a considerably wider but not the widest range of cryptocurrency tokens. Plus, it is not very transparent in terms of fees.

Trading fees: $0.5 paid in $RUNE. Deposit, liquidity, outbound, as well as other fees, may apply to ThorChain.

Website: Thorswap

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#10) QuickSwap

Best for liquidity mining, low-fee swapping, and farming liquidity tokens.

The QuickSwap exchange is a fork of Uniswap. It improves from Uniswap on settlement time as it is built on Polygon, unlike Uniswap which is built on Ethereum. It employs liquidity pools to facilitate peer-to-peer-based swaps and order books.

How to trade on QuickSwap:

• Visit the exchange website.
• Click the Connect Wallet tab. Deposit crypto into the wallet.
• Select the token to exchange under From and input the amount. Select a token to receive on the From tab and the platform will estimate the value to receive. Edit slippage (from 0.1% to 1%). It also shows the price impact and liquidity provider fees. Proceed to swap if the wallet is already connected.

Features:

• Liquidity providers can add token pairs for pools not available. This is known as permissionless listing. It supports liquidity mining such that users can stake coins to earn 0.25% of fee trades from liquidity provisioning. They earn Quick tokens as well as liquidity provider fees.
• Developers can build dApps. It is a smart contract-based platform.
• Non-custodial trading.
• Governance is based on community – holders of Quick tokens that can participate in governance.

Pros:

• Faster and cheaper transactions compared to Ethereum and other second-generation dApps.
• The team involved transparency.
• Earn dQuickon token after staking Quick token. The token also incentivizes borrowing and lending on the platform.
• Huge value locked — $346 billion+ and high trading volume of $22 million+.

Cons:

• No fiat support.

Verdict: Third-generation blockchain achieves faster crypto swaps at lower fees compared to Uniswap, Ethereum, and many other blockchains. Its high liquidity makes it recommended for high-volume trading.

Transaction fees: 0.3%.

Website: QuickSwap

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Conclusion

This tutorial discussed the top ten decentralized exchanges. We saw that the truly decentralized exchanges are based on liquidity pools and not centralized order books. They thus improve security.

Probably a huge drawback for these truly decentralized exchanges or DEX Aggregator is the service or product range because most may not provide any other functionality beyond swapping, staking, and liquidity mining on liquidity pools.

Most decentralized exchanges carry the benefit of low transaction fees to the tune of below 0.5%, which beats centralized exchanges. DexGuru and AirSwap, for instance, charge zero fees. DEXes are very secure and carry high liquidity mining APYs of sometimes 100% of swapping fees. dYdX and Pancakeswap are great for perpetual futures trading with high leverage.

But centralized exchanges also have huge trading volumes and liquidity in comparison. They also offer diverse product and service ranges. Except when using Bancor and a few other DEX exchanges, it may be hard to find a DEX that supports fiat deposits and buying/selling.

Research process:

• DEX exchanges listed for review: 22.
• DEXes reviewed: 10.
• Time taken for the research process: 30 hours.