Explainer · 2 min read
How Swapabit finds the best rate
What happens between typing an amount and seeing the routes, and how to read what a route tells you.
Most swap sites send your order to one exchange and show you its price. Swapabit asks all of the exchanges it works with at once and puts their answers side by side. Here is what happens under the hood, and how to read the result.
One request, every exchange
When you enter an amount, Swapabit sends the same question to every connected exchange: how much would you give for this? The answers stream in as they arrive, so the fastest exchanges show up first and the list fills in within a moment.
Each answer is a route. Routes that can't be taken yet, for example from an exchange that is still being connected, are marked Soon.
Reading a route
The big number is what you receive. Next to it is its value in your display currency, and under it how it compares with the best route, for example -0.58% vs best. The best route itself is labeled Best rate, and the route Swapabit suggests is labeled Recommended.
Best Match sorting weighs the rate together with how reliably and quickly each exchange delivers. Switch to Best Rate to rank on the amount alone, or to Fastest to rank on speed.
The market check
Swapabit also tracks the mid-market rate on three of the largest trading platforms, Binance, OKX, and Kraken, and shows it under the converter.
A route's over market figure is its total cost compared with that mid-market rate. It bundles the exchange's spread, the network fee, and the Swapabit fee into one honest number, so two routes can be compared at a glance.
When a quote looks too good
Every exchange has costs, so a quote that beats the mid-market rate is unusual. Swapabit marks those routes with an amber warning and a better than market label instead of celebrating them. Such a quote may not settle at the amount shown. It is often safer to pick a route that is honest about its cost.
Fresh quotes, all the time
Prices move by the second. Swapabit refreshes every route automatically every 30 seconds while you compare, and you can refresh on demand too. The number you pick is always current.
Keep reading
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How to swap crypto on Swapabit
Your first swap, step by step, from picking the coins to seeing them arrive in your wallet.
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Fixed or floating: which rate should you pick?
What a fixed rate and a floating rate each promise, and how to choose between them for your swap.