The real cost of an instant swap is in the spread

You will rarely find a separate fee line on an instant swap site. The cost lives inside the rate. There is nothing sneaky about that, it is simply how the business works. It does make comparing harder, unless you know where to look.

What the rate contains

• The margin. This is what the exchange earns for doing the swap.
• The network fee for sending you the new coin, which differs from chain to chain.
• Price movement while the swap runs, if you chose a floating rate.

Focus on one number

Forget the headline rate. What counts is the amount that actually arrives in your wallet. Take that amount and compare it with what you would get at the open market price. The difference, as a percentage, is your total cost.

Swap1337 shows every swap in exactly this way. You see what you receive after all fees, and right beside it, how far that sits from the market, for example minus 0.9 percent. Nothing unexpected at the finish.

What counts as a fair spread

That depends on the pair and on the amount. Large, liquid pairs such as BTC to USDT tend to cost less than smaller coins. Tiny swaps cost more as a percentage, since the network fee for sending you the coins stays about the same no matter how much you swap.

Try it for yourself

Enter an amount on the swap page and see how the spread moves as you raise and lower it. Often there is a sweet spot where network fees no longer dominate. After that, compare a handful of pairs on the pairs overview.

Quick answers