Unlock optimal trades in Swap API with 0x RFQ liquidity

Discover how to unlock optimal trades in Swap API by activating 0x RFQ liquidity: your shield against MEV attacks and slippage.

Published on
September 20, 2023
Learn & Build
Unlock optimal trades in Swap API with 0x RFQ liquidity

In a previous article, we took a look under the hood at how we manage Swap API’s liquidity portfolio. Today, we're going to highlight liquidity available exclusively through Swap API: 0x RFQ.

Swap API aggregates liquidity from 100+ sources to find the route expected to yield the best executed price. These sources include the top Automated Market Makers (AMMs), as well as exclusive liquidity from professional market markers surfaced through 0x RFQ.

Deeper liquidity and greater diversity of sources means better pricing for end-users. And RFQ isn’t just your average liquidity source. Featuring protection from MEV attacks, zero slippage, and highly efficient execution, RFQ unlocks the full power of Swap API. 

Enabling RFQ opens up additional avenues for trade route optimization and ensures your users get the best executed prices. In fact, 0x RFQ consistently outperforms AMMs by delivering better prices 77% of the time for the top 5 pairs (excluding stable/stable), which account for 1/4 of all trading volume on 0x, and 46% of the time on average for all pairs where it's available.

Unlock optimal trades in Swap API by activating 0x RFQ today.

The benefits of 0x RFQ

Whether your users are trading in large sizes or striving for the perfect execution, trust in Swap API’s RFQ to deliver the liquidity your users deserve.

Protection from MEV attacks & front-running: RFQ orders are personally tailored for each trade on the smart contract level, the price quoted to your user cannot deviate from the executed price. No front-running or MEV attacks possible.

Zero slippage for price certainty: Experience the power of zero slippage with RFQ, where your users will never pay a price worse than the quoted offer.

Seamless execution and under-the-hood efficiency: RFQ trades require less computation to execute than a typical AMM trade, making RFQ more gas efficient compared to AMMs.

Access to exclusive liquidity through sophisticated MMs: Fueling the engine behind RFQ is the expertise of sophisticated market makers, ensuring access to top-tier liquidity.

Last look for user before trade execution: RFQ grants your users the ultimate control with the last look for a trade, giving them the final say.

High-quality execution: no MEV, zero slippage

When trading on decentralized exchanges, there are a range of variables that can alter the price of a trade, such as slippage, gas fees, and price impact. Many DeFi applications today only show quoted prices, which do not incorporate slippage and can drastically differ from the executed price. What you see is not always what you get.

In just the past year, MEV bots have extracted over $473 million from traders. MEV bots attempt to extract as much as they can from AMM trades, increasing the realized slippage. Slippage is only visible after trade settlement and typically goes unreported to the end user.

Enabling 0x RFQ takes Swap API’s Slippage Protection to the next level, opening up slippage-free trade routes to help shield users from MEV attacks. RFQ orders are personally tailored for each trade and enforced on the smart contract level, the price quoted cannot deviate from the executed price - no MEV attacks, no slippage. And not only does 0x RFQ protect your users from slippage, RFQ orders are more gas efficient than AMMs.

At the heart of 0x RFQ is the expertise of sophisticated market makers. These market makers must beat the on-chain price of AMMs in order to be included in a quote. At the same time, they must also compete with other RFQ market makers. This competition can drive large price improvements over AMMs.

Out of the 100+ liquidity sources that Swap API aggregates, 0x RFQ consistently outperforms AMMs by delivering better prices 46% of the time for pairs where it’s available.

0x RFQ really shines for the top non-stablecoin-only pairs, which account for roughly a quarter of all DEX trading volume. This category is made up of some of the most highly traded pairs - the “household names” like USDC-WETH, USDT-WETH, USDC-WBTC, WBTC-WETH, and DAI-WETH. In this category sophisticated MMs compete heavily with AMMs, outperforming AMMs 77% of the time.

Read our recent report on RFQ performance for more in-depth analysis of how RFQ helps deliver the best prices through Swap API.

Swap API takes into account gas costs, slippage, and execution quality to identify the route expected to yield the best executed price. With protection from MEV attacks, zero slippage, and efficient execution, enabling 0x RFQ in Swap API ensures your users get the best prices available, seamlessly integrated into your app.

Ready to tap into RFQ liquidity?

If you’ve already integrated Swap API, turning on RFQ liquidity is as easy as three simple steps. Check out our quick tutorial to unlock optimal trades with 0x RFQ in less than 5 minutes.

New to 0x? Sign-up for an account on the 0x Dashboard to tap into RFQ liquidity today.