Why Fees Alone Don't Tell the Full Story of DEX Trading Costs

📊 Hidden Costs Revealed

By Algebra
Mar 23, 2026, 3:12 PM
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Total Execution Cost (TEC) matters more than fees alone when evaluating AMM performance.​ TEC combines three components:

  • Gas costs - dominate small trades (~$100), independent of trade size
  • Swap fees - drive costs for medium trades ($100-$5,000), constant percentage of value
  • Price impact - becomes critical for large trades (>$5,000), depends on liquidity depth

Algebra Labs analyzed execution costs across trade sizes in a $1M liquidity pool with 0.​2% fees and $0.​02 gas.​ Results show each component dominates at different scales:

For small trades, gas efficiency determines competitiveness.​ For medium trades, fee levels matter most when liquidity is similar.​ For large trades, deeper liquidity wins by minimizing price impact.​

DEX aggregators route order flow based on total execution cost optimization, not fees alone.​ This means AMM design must account for all three components to attract the right trade sizes.​

Algebra powers 90+ DEXes across EVM chains with concentrated liquidity and modular architecture.​

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