trading

DEX (Decentralized Exchange)

A decentralized exchange where tokens are swapped directly from your own wallet — without a central custodian. On Solana e.g. Jupiter, Raydium, Orca.


DEX — Decentralized Exchange

A DEX is a decentralized trading platform where you swap tokens directly from your own wallet. Unlike a centralized exchange, you never hand your coins to a custodian — the swap runs through smart contracts.

How a DEX works

Most DEXes use liquidity pools instead of a classic order book. The price results from the ratio of tokens in the pool. Some Solana DEXes combine this with order-book models.

DEXes on Solana

  • Jupiter: an aggregator that finds the best price across many pools
  • Raydium, Orca: established liquidity protocols
  • Low fees and fast execution thanks to Solana’s throughput

When swapping, watch the slippage — the difference between the expected and actual price.

Related Terms

Liquidity Pool Slippage DeFi (Decentralized Finance) Wrapped SOL