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How to monetize your app using 0x Swap API

This guide covers how you can monetize your app by using the 0x Swap API.

Introduction​

As you build your DeFi business, it’s likely that you are including swaps directly in-app to help your users conveniently trade at the best price. As your business grows, you may consider low-friction ways to monetize in order to generate revenue and build a sustainable Web3 business.

This guide covers two basic monetization options - collecting affiliate fees and collecting trade surplus. It also covers pricing considerations, along with code samples and a demo app to help you implement these options.

Collecting affiliate fees is available to teams on all pricing plans. Collecting trade surplus is available only to select integrators on a custom pricing plan. For assistance with setting up a custom plan, please contact support.

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Important: Read Before Using 0x API

  • NEVER set an allowance on the Settler contract. Doing so may result in unintended consequences, including potential loss of tokens or exposure to security risks. The Settler contract does not support or require token allowances for its operation. Setting an allowance on the Settler contract will lead to misuse by other parties.

  • ONLY set allowances on Permit2 or AllowanceHolder contracts, as indicated by the API responses.

  • The correct allowance target is returned in issues.allowance.spender.

tip

⚡️ See these monetization options implemented in a live demo here.

⚡️ Checkout the demo code to see how to collect affiliate fees and trade surplus.

tip

Check out our Monetization Report to see how top DeFi apps are turning trading activity into millions in revenue.

How to monetize on trades​

Out-of-the-box with 0x Swap API, you have two monetization options:

Option 1: Collect affiliate fees​

As a 0x Swap API integrator, you have full flexibility to collect an affiliate fee on any trade made through your application.

Setup requires including the following three parameters when making a Swap API request:

  • swapFeeRecipient - The wallet address to receive the specified trading fees.
  • swapFeeBps - The amount in Bps (Basis points) of the swapFeeToken to charge and deliver to the swapFeeRecipient. Denoted as an integer between 0 - 1000 where 1000 Bps represents 10%.
  • swapFeeToken - The contract address of the token to receive trading fees in. This must be set to either the value of buyToken or the sellToken.

Example API call​

https://api.0x.org/swap/permit2/quote                 // Request a firm quote
?chainId=1                                            // Ethereum Mainnet
&sellToken=0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F // Sell DAI
&sellAmount=4000000000000000000000                    // Sell amount: 4000 (18 decimal)
&buyToken=0xEeeeeEeeeEeEeeEeEeEeeEEEeeeeEeeeeeeeEEeE  // Buy ETH
&taker=$USER_TAKER_ADDRESS                            // Address that will make the trade
&swapFeeRecipient=$INTEGRATOR_WALLET_ADDRESS // Wallet address that should receive the affiliate fees
&swapFeeBps=100                              // Percentage of buyAmount that should be attributed as affiliate fees
&swapFeeToken=0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F // Receive trading fee in sellToken (DAI)
--header '0x-api-key: [API_KEY]' // Replace with your own API key
--header '0x-version: v2' // API version

When the transaction has gone through, the fee amount indicated by swapFeeBps will be sent to the swapFeeRecipient address you've set. The fee is received in the swapFeeToken. If you would like to receive a specific type of token (e.g. USDC), you will need to convert those on your own.

Displaying fees in the UI​

The fee amount is returned in the fees.integratorFee object. Two recommended methods to display the fees are:

  • display the fee.integratorFee.amount (make sure to consider the token's base units)
  • display the swapFeeBps and the swapFeeToken separately
info
A note on how fee.integratorFee.amount is calculated

The amount is calculated from (swapFeeBps/10000) * sellAmount (in the sellToken base unit).

For example, to take a 1% fee on selling 100 USDC,

  • sellToken=0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48 (USDC)
  • sellAmount=100000000 (USDC has a base unit of 6 decimals)
  • swapFeeBps=100 (1% fee)

The fee amount would be 1000000, which is 1 USDC.

...
"fees": {
    "integratorFee": {
      "amount": "1000000",
      "token": "0x833589fcd6edb6e08f4c7c32d4f71b54bda02913",
      "type": "volume"
    },
...

The following are examples from different apps that show these two options.

Pricing considerations​

When deciding how much to set your fee amount, consider the following. We recommend setting your pricing in a way that strengthens your bottom line, aligning it with the value you provide to customers while considering any transaction costs. Note that the additional affiliate fee will impact the price for the end user, so find that sweet spot where your solution remains competitive and impactful.

Be aware that swapFee has a default limit of 1000 Bps. If your application requires a higher value, please reach out to us.

Option 2: Collect trade surplus​

Collecting trade surplus is only available to select integrators on a custom pricing plan. For assistance with setting up a custom plan, please contact support.

Trade surplus, also known as positive slippage, occurs when the user ends up receiving more tokens than their quoted amount. 0x Swap API can be easily configured so that you collect the trade surplus and send that to a specified address.

This can be done by setting the tradeSurplusRecipient parameter in a Swap API request.

tradeSurplusRecipient represents the wallet address that will receive any trade surplus. When a transaction produces trade surplus, 100% of it will be collected in that wallet.

The surplus is received in the buyToken (the token that the user will receive). If you would like to receive a specific type of token (e.g. USDC), you will need to make that conversion on your own.

When tradeSurplusRecipient is not specified, the feature is effectively OFF and all trade surplus will be passed back to the taker.

Example API call​

https://api.0x.org/swap/permit2/quote                 // Request a firm quote
?chainId=1                                            // Ethereum Mainnet
&sellToken=0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F // Sell DAI
&sellAmount=4000000000000000000000                    // Sell amount: 4000 (18 decimal)
&buyToken=0xEeeeeEeeeEeEeeEeEeEeeEEEeeeeEeeeeeeeEEeE  // Buy ETH
&taker=$USER_TAKER_ADDRESS                            // Address that will make the trade
&tradeSurplusRecipient=$INTEGRATOR_WALLET_ADDRESS     // The recipient of any trade surplus fees
--header '0x-api-key: [API_KEY]'                     // Replace with your own API key
--header '0x-version: v2'                            // Replace with your own API key