We currently have 3 DEX aggregators that provide trading for our customers. 0x, THORChain, and CoW Protocol. You can learn more about each of them here:
Currently when using THORChain, the protocol requires you to send 3x the miner fees and you are charged an additional 0.02 RUNE for each trade.
Additionally, network (miner) fees have been extremely high recently making it impossible to trade smaller amounts (because the fees amount to more than the total being traded).
Network congestion (meaning a high volume and velocity of trades) has a large impact on fees. This congestion is mostly caused by price fluctuations. Big drops and big spikes means a lot of people are buying and selling. When it comes to DEX trades, since it is working with smart contracts, it is more expensive than centralized trading. A few things to remember:
- Fees are paid to the network, not ShapeShift*.
- Trading or transacting in small amounts is not a good idea when fees are high.
- You can see average network fees for BTC here: https://btc.com/stats/unconfirmed-tx
- You can see average network fees for ETH here: https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_average_transaction_fee (note: sending ETH in a transaction is cheaper than ERC20 sends and DEX trades)
- Learn more about DEX fees here: https://docs.thorchain.org/how-it-works/fees.
*Since ShapeShift does not profit on any of these miner fees, we are not offering any reimbursements for the fees paid.