Swap API is 4x faster with the Lightning Upgrade

0x Swap API just got a major upgrade. Lightning is now live for every integrator, and swaps on EVM chains are more than twice as fast and 4x at the median. Lightning changes how the Swap API finds liquidity before it routes a trade. Instead of checking every pool on a fixed list, it only looks at pools that actually exist and hold real liquidity. Less wasted work on every request means faster swaps in your app.

• Median response time dropped from 328 ms to 80 ms
• The slowest 5% of requests went from 805 ms to 350 ms, and
• Swaps on BSC got 86% faster

Trades in the blink of an eye

With Lightning on 0x, a typical swap request now comes back in about 113 ms.

👉  Faster than the blink of an eye.

Over the past year, integrators have told us the same thing again and again: they want faster swaps. One founder told us the biggest bottleneck in their trading flow was the time it took to get a quote. Teams were asking about co-locating servers next to ours to win back every millisecond.

For integrators serving high-frequency traders, like memecoin apps and launchpads, speed decides who wins the trade. Prices move in seconds, so the faster the swap, the closer users get to the price they clicked on.

Wallets and other everyday apps benefit too. When a user enters an amount, the price appears instantly instead of after a loading spinner. That smoother experience keeps users swapping in your app instead of going somewhere else.

It happens with Lightning on 0x.

How Lightning works

The usual way to speed up an API is to move servers closer to users. We took the harder route and rebuilt how the API searches for liquidity, so every request goes straight to the pools that matter.

Before Lightning, the Swap API relied on hardcoded lists of pools and token pairs. For some sources, it assumed pools existed and held sufficient liquidity without checking. This meant sampling pools that didn't exist or held almost no liquidity, and every one of those checks cost time.

Lightning solves this by building a map of the tokens, pools and liquidity on every chain we support. Pools are indexed as they’re created onchain and kept in a near-real-time liquidity graph, so when a quote comes in the router doesn’t have to go find liquidity. It already knows where it is. A graph search traces the path from sell token to buy token through the exact pools and token pairs that will yield the best trade outcome. One strike, and the optimal route lights up.

Lightning replaces those lists with two new pieces:

• A pool indexer that tracks new pools as they're created onchain. As soon as a pool exists it’s known to the router, and is able to factor it into the trade path.
• A liquidity graph, continuously rebuilt near real time so the router knows the depth of liquidity available in each pool and which token pairs can serve as connecting points.

The router itself hasn't changed. It just has far less noise to sift through. The Swap API now makes 50% fewer onchain data calls per request on Ethereum, BSC, Base, and Robinhood Chain, meaning faster quotes and trades for your users.

The numbers

Lightning is faster at p95 on every EVM chain. Median response time fell 76%, from 328 ms to 80 ms, and the slowest requests dropped by more than half, with p95 falling from 805 ms to 350 ms.

The biggest gains landed where most trading happens. These six chains carry 93% of 0x Swap API traffic:

Already live in your app

Lightning is on by default for every 0x Swap API integrator. If you're integrated, your users are already getting faster swaps.

• Start building: create a free 0x account and get your API key.
• Read the docs: the Swap API guides cover every endpoint and parameter.
• Talk to the team: book a call to see what Lightning means for your app.