Understanding Automated Market Makers AMM in DeFi: A Comprehensive Guide

August 3, 2023

Creating virtual currencies is becoming easier due to advancements in the crypto ecosystem. The wage-price spiral theory cites that rising labor costs lead to high inflation. Because AMMs are a new version of a traditional practice called "market making," reviewing how https://www.xcritical.com/ market making works on CEXs and contrasting it with DeFi helps to clarify the function of AMMs.

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automated market makers

DEXs use AMM algorithms to confirm crypto transfers between traders without using orderbooks or centralized market makers. Instead, AMM DEXs use smart contracts to verify P2P crypto transfers between traders. amms meaning All the transfers on AMM DEXs take place on blockchains with smart contract functionality, including Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana.

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  • This is creating a far more competitive market for liquidity provision and will likely lead to greater segmentation of DEXs.
  • An Automated Market Maker (AMM) is a self-executing system that manages liquidity in a liquidity pool operating through mathematical formulas and algorithms to define the price of an asset.
  • This allows AMMs to actively adjust the price in their market to be more in line with the external market price.
  • Others are exploring the use of advanced mathematical models to optimize the allocation of liquidity in pools.
  • When an LP wishes to exit a pool, they can redeem their LP token to claim their share of the transaction fees.
  • AMMs are an essential aspect of the growing decentralized finance ecosystem and are an innovation that reflects the core ideals of crypto.

Uniswap is the leading decentralized cryptocurrency exchange on the market, with billions of dollars traded daily. Its simplicity and user-friendly interface make it a top choice for many traders. The platform allows users to trade a wide range of ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum network and has recently expanded to support tokens on other networks such as Polygon and Optimism.

Strategies to avoid impermanent loss

Every trading pair (a pair of assets that can be traded for each other) supported by the exchange has its corresponding order book. AMMs are highly appealing due to the democratization and the ease they bring to the trading process on decentralized exchanges. With more time and innovation, AMMs are bound to evolve to improve the trading experience in the global crypto markets.

AMM Explained: Automated Market Makers & How They Work

Flash Loans enable crypto users to create a loan without having to provide collateral in return. The process is entirely decentralized and does not require any kind of KYC documentation. X and y are equal amounts of a liquidity pool’s assets while k is the total or constant amount of pool liquidity. This Article does not offer the purchase or sale of any financial instruments or related services. One of the specific problems of the AMM approach to decentralised exchanges is that for very liquid pools much of the funds are sat there doing nothing.

Constant Sum Market Maker (CSMM)

Since the risk of impermanent loss is lower in these pools, the fees are set lower to encourage higher-volume, lower-margin trading. 1%, is meant for pools that involve tokens with higher volatility or lower liquidity. The main trade-offs with DEXs relate to the scalability of the underlying blockchain, which also comes with more latency and higher transaction fees. Initial AMM models often suffer from low capital efficiency, meaning that a large portion of capital in liquidity pools is not utilized effectively, leading to lesser returns for liquidity providers. Price discovery in Automated Market Makers (AMMs) differs fundamentally from traditional financial markets. In AMMs, prices are not set through an order book but are determined algorithmically based on the assets in the liquidity pools.

Liquidity pools and liquidity providers

The Market Depth metric is often described as the volume required to move the price +/-2%. The higher that volume the greater confidence you can have that your trade won't move the price away from your desired entry or exit. DEX’s are a core component of DEFI - decentralised finance - generating 24hr trading volume in excess of $2bn, according to Coingecko. The competitive advantage of Uniswap lies in its peerless high liquidity, financial incentives in UNI rewards, and technological evolution. “Off-chain” transactions with PMMs can be executed in OTC Mode (over-the-counter). A cutting-edge tracking tool offering accurate, detailed and well-organized crypto portfolio information.

automated market makers

Liquidity pools are at the heart of AMM platforms like WhiteSwap, functioning as the core mechanism that enables these automated money makers to facilitate trading by providing liquidity. They are essentially reservoirs of tokens locked in a smart contract, used to facilitate trading by providing liquidity. Each AMM gives its liquidity providers the power to vote on its fees, in proportion to the number of LP tokens they hold. Whenever anyone places a new vote, the AMM recalculates its fee to be an average of the latest votes, weighted by how many LP tokens those voters hold. Up to 8 liquidity providers' votes can be counted this way; if more liquidity providers try to vote, then only the top 8 votes (by most LP tokens held) are counted.

In those processes, there is always a need for a counterparty — a trading pair — to make a trade. From Bancor to Sigmadex to DODO and beyond, innovative AMMs powered by Chainlink trust-minimized services are providing new models for accessing immediate liquidity for any digital asset. Not only do AMMs powered by Chainlink help create price action in previously illiquid markets, but they do so in a highly secure, globally accessible, and non-custodial manner. The result is a hyperbola (blue line) that returns a linear exchange rate for large parts of the price curve and exponential prices when exchange rates near the outer bounds. Since prices in AMMs are determined algorithmically based on liquidity pool ratios, there’s less room for price manipulation typically seen in order book-based markets. These pools, filled with different tokens, adjust prices dynamically according to the changing ratios of assets.

automated market makers

Market makers offer "liquidity" to a CEX's platform, making it easy for traders to quickly exchange digital assets with minimal price inefficiencies (aka slippage). The "spread" is the slight difference between the "bid" and "ask" price on a CEX, which serves as compensation for market makers. For instance, if Bitcoin (BTC) had a bid price of $24,997 and an ask price of $25,000, the spread would be $3 per coin. Automated market makers (AMMs) are a type of decentralized exchange (DEX) that use algorithmic “money robots” to make it easy for individual traders to buy and sell crypto assets. Instead of trading directly with other people as with a traditional order book, users trade directly through the AMM. An automated market maker (AMM) is a kind of decentralized exchange that operates on a mathematical formula to price assets.

Liquidity pools ensure that there are always assets available for trading, regardless of the time or market conditions. Unlike traditional exchanges that rely on specific buyers and sellers, AMMs enable users to trade instantly, 24/7. An automated market works as a system that quotes a price between the two assets. An Automated Market Maker (AMM) is Decentralized Exchange (DEX) protocol that trusts a mathematical formula to price assets. In AMM you can do trading and also add liquidity funds to the liquidity pool.

SushiSwap is a popular fork of Uniswap which offers similar features such as trading, staking, and liquidity pools. However, it differentiates itself by having a multi-chain approach with support for over 16 blockchain networks. This allows for greater flexibility and accessibility for users looking to trade on different networks.

However, it’s essential to note that redeeming the liquidity provider token is necessary to withdraw funds from the initial liquidity pool. The supply-demand ratio of cryptocurrency trading pairs determines their exchange rates. For example, if a token's liquidity supply exceeds demand in the liquidity pool, it will lead to a fall in its prices, and vice versa. These smart contracts use the asset liquidity contributed by liquidity providers to execute trades. As said above, assets within the pool are managed by an algorithm that sets prices of digital assets.

If the loss is greater than the gain obtained through collecting trading fees, the liquidity provider would have been better off just HODLing the tokens. Many of first-generation AMMs are limited by impermanent loss and low capital efficiency, which impacts both liquidity providers and traders. Market makers are entities tasked with providing liquidity for a tradable asset on an exchange that may otherwise be illiquid. Market makers do this by buying and selling assets from their own accounts with the goal of making a profit, often from the spread—the gap between the highest buy offer and lowest sell offer. Their trading activity creates liquidity, lowering the price impact of larger trades. At its core, market making is the process of providing liquidity to a financial market.

A traditional market maker is a firm or individual that actively quotes both buy and sell prices for financial instruments, ensuring liquidity and stability in the markets. These entities, often financial institutions or professional traders, commit to buying and selling assets from their own accounts, aiming to profit from the spread between these prices. Automated Market Makers (AMMs) represent a revolutionary approach in the world of finance, particularly within the cryptocurrency sector. These algorithms have transformed how trading is conducted, enabling liquidity and trading opportunities in decentralized settings without the need for traditional market makers. To create a liquidity pool, a user must deposit an equal value of two different tokens into the pool. For example, if a user wants to create a liquidity pool for ETH and DAI, they must deposit an equal value of ETH and DAI into the pool.

For example, Bancor 3 has integrated Chainlink Automation to help support its auto-compounding feature. Unlike traditional systems that rely on buyers and sellers to create liquidity, AMMs use liquidity pools and algorithmic price determination, which ensures constant market liquidity and availability. Automated Market Makers (AMMs) provide liquidity in the XRP Ledger's decentralized exchange. Yes, AMMs (Automated Market Makers) are implemented as smart contracts on a blockchain platform. These smart contracts facilitate the automated swapping of assets between users and pools without the need for an intermediary or order book.

automated market makers

Uniswap is celebrated for its simplicity, allowing users to pair any two ERC-20 tokens in a 50/50 ratio, creating highly accessible liquidity pools. Curve takes a specialized approach by focusing on pools of similar assets, like stablecoins, offering low slippage and efficient trades. Balancer pushes the envelope further by enabling dynamic pools with up to eight different assets in customizable ratios, offering unparalleled flexibility. Users can provide liquidity to a pool by depositing an equal value of two different tokens.

Prices between asset pairs are determined by a constant mathematical formula. Where a CEX has an Order Book managing offers from buyers and sellers through a centralised system a DEX uses an Automated Market Maker (AMM). An AMM combines Smart Contracts and algorithms to incentivise crypto holders to provide liquidity for trading pairs and automatically adjusts prices based on the changing liquidity ratio. Balancer offers multi-asset pools to increase exposure to different crypto assets and deepen liquidity.

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by Mona Liza Ibarra 

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