DEX Aggregator
A DEX aggregator is a protocol that routes a user's trade across multiple DEXs to achieve the best possible execution price, accounting for price impact, swap fees, and gas costs. Aggregators connect to dozens of on-chain liquidity sources (Uniswap, Curve, Balancer, etc.) and solve a routing optimization problem — how to split the trade across venues to minimize the average execution price. 1inch, Matcha, and CowSwap are leading aggregators. Aggregators can also incorporate off-chain liquidity via RFQ systems where professional market makers quote firm prices for specific trade sizes. The aggregator model has been so successful that a large fraction of DEX volume now flows through aggregators rather than directly to individual pools. For retail traders, aggregators nearly always provide better execution than trading against a single pool. For the market, aggregators improve price discovery by linking fragmented liquidity islands into a unified execution surface.