Thorswap
Thorswap streaming swaps can reduce liquidity fees by dividing a trade into smaller executions
Thorswap streaming swaps split an eligible trade into smaller executions that can reduce liquidity fees relative to a single larger swap. Timed execution gives arbitrageurs opportunities to rebalance pools between those portions. The potential saving depends on trade size, pool depth, and execution settings. Compare the estimated destination amount with the waiting time and the applicable minimum-output protection.
A streamed trade still carries network and interface charges. Its quoted output can also change before completion. THORChain and Maya Protocol provide the underlying streaming mechanics on their respective routes, with provider-specific limits and settlement rules.
Smaller executions can lower liquidity fees, while a timed stream exposes the unfinished trade to changing pool prices.
Pool depth, sub-swap size, and arbitrage
Streaming reduces each portion's size relative to pool depth, which can lower slip-based liquidity fees, while timed spacing gives arbitrageurs opportunities to bring pool prices back toward external market prices between executions. The same trade amount can have different fee effects in pools with different depths.
For an eligible native-asset stream, the protocol processes those portions internally after a single funding transaction. It accumulates the successful output for delivery when the stream finishes. Manually placing separate swaps would involve separate funding and settlement transactions, with their associated network charges. Streaming avoids creating those transactions for every portion. The funds still enter protocol-controlled vaults during execution; Thorswap supplies the interface, while the chosen liquidity protocol handles the stream.
Does a lower slip fee guarantee a larger final payout?
Market movement during execution can outweigh the liquidity-fee saving, so a lower slip fee does not guarantee a larger final payout. Each portion trades against the pool conditions that exist when it executes. A price-optimized stream therefore exposes the unfinished trade to changing exchange rates. Network charges and Thorswap's exchange fee also remain part of the cost. Compare quotes for the same input amount, exact destination asset, and receiving network, with their execution settings visible. The expected payout and a minimum-output limit have different meanings: the estimate describes anticipated execution, while the limit sets a condition for accepting it.
Streaming duration and wallet arrival measure different waits
The streaming interval controls spacing within the protocol's execution schedule, while the total delivery time also depends on the funding chain and destination-chain settlement. On timed market streams, intervals use the relevant protocol's blocks. A larger interval leaves more time between portions. The quantity determines how many portions the protocol attempts, within its applicable sizing and duration limits.
THORChain quotes distinguish inbound confirmation estimates, streaming duration, and outbound delay. A short internal stream can accompany a longer wait for funding confirmation or outbound processing. THORChain bounds ordinary market-stream length through the STREAMINGSWAPMAXLENGTH setting in Mimir, its network configuration. Its block-based limit does not create an exact wall-clock appointment.
Use the delivery estimate when the destination asset must arrive before another transaction can proceed. Trading halts and processing constraints can interrupt the expected schedule, so an estimate does not reserve liquidity or confirm an arrival time. An outbound transaction and its destination-chain confirmation establish progress beyond internal swap execution.
Minimum liquidity fees limit the benefit of extra splitting
Protocol fee floors prevent progressively smaller portions from driving the liquidity charge toward zero, even when the swap creates very little pool slip. THORChain charges its applicable minimum liquidity fee when calculated slip falls below that floor. Asset class and the applicable pair or affiliate configuration can affect which floor the network selects, so a quote for a different route may carry a different minimum liquidity charge even with the same streaming settings. Network configuration can change the fee floor that a new quote uses.
Automatic sizing balances the trade amount against pool depth and the network's limits. Once portions reach the applicable floor, adding more of them cannot keep reducing that fee component. A small trade against a deep pool may therefore gain little from a longer schedule. For a trade that consumes a larger share of available liquidity, reducing each portion's size has more room to improve execution.
Price limits govern execution without freezing the market
A supported minimum-output limit constrains the price at which THORChain accepts each portion of a streamed market swap; it does not fix the exchange rate for the entire period. Market streaming attempts execution on its schedule. If the first attempt fails, THORChain refunds the trade without continuing the remaining attempts. Later failures can leave a combination of completed output and unswapped input.
Fee-aware protection matters because the destination amount must cover the charges that apply to that route. A tighter limit reduces the range of acceptable execution prices. It can also increase the chance that portions fail when pool prices move. Increasing tolerance changes that acceptance condition; it does not reduce the liquidity fee or make a stale quote current.
Streaming limit swaps are a separate protocol mode that can wait for suitable price conditions. Their expiration rules differ from ordinary market-stream scheduling.
Partial execution produces output and a separate refund
A partially completed stream can settle in both the destination asset and the original input asset, so the destination payment alone may represent only the completed portions. The protocol tracks successful and unsuccessful attempts separately. THORChain refunds the unswapped portion of a partially completed streaming swap. It sends the completed output to the specified destination, with applicable delivery charges. Refunds return input through the source chain and can incur that chain's outbound fee. A refund therefore does not necessarily return the original deposited amount intact. Internal completion, outbound scheduling, and confirmed receipt describe different states.
Timed streams, rapid execution, and limit swaps have distinct controls
THORChain's Advanced Swap Queue supports both timed and rapid streaming, so the word streaming does not always imply a long interval between every portion. When the advanced queue operates, omitted streaming parameters trigger automatic streaming. A zero interval selects rapid processing; multiple iterations require the relevant network setting. Timed market streaming spaces portions by blocks. These are protocol behaviors, and the selected Thorswap route determines which settings its interface exposes.
On routes that support them, limit swaps add conditional waiting and a separate expiration period. In that mode, the memo field used for a market stream's interval instead specifies a custom time to live. THORChain provides a modification mechanism that lets the original creator cancel a limit swap. Completed portions still settle; cancellation does not reverse their execution. The selected route's swap type determines which execution and cancellation rules apply. Maya Protocol has its own streaming parameters and limits, so THORChain's advanced-queue rules should stay within their scope.
A timing comparison that stops before the deposit
In this hypothetical quote review, a reader allows 16 minutes for internal streaming, while the selected quote estimates 26 minutes and shows a higher destination amount than its faster alternative. The comparison holds the input amount, destination asset, and receiving network unchanged. The reader wants to keep funds available until accepting an execution schedule. These figures describe the example, without representing current settings or recommended waiting periods.
The reader has not submitted the funding transaction. Reviewing the quote leaves the assets in the sending wallet. Broadcasting the funding transaction submits a transfer to the source chain. Submission alone does not establish protocol acceptance or the start of streaming. The displayed output and duration remain estimates tied to live pool conditions.
The reader compares the quoted duration with the permitted wait and declines to send the deposit. No stream has started, and no swap funding payment has left the wallet. The higher estimated payout does not meet the time requirement: the quoted stream exceeds the allowance by 10 minutes.
Practical questions about Thorswap streaming swaps
Can a streamed swap still fail the minimum deposit requirement?
A streaming deposit must still meet the route's minimum input requirement and the source chain's processing threshold. Internal splitting does not bypass either restriction. THORChain quotes provide a recommended minimum input and reject amounts too small to cover fees. The network ignores deposits below the source chain's dust threshold. This differs from the minimum liquidity fee that applies to each internal execution.
Why does a streaming quote reject the receiving address?
A THORChain streaming quote can reject a destination address that does not belong to the requested output chain. Streaming changes execution scheduling, not address compatibility. Match the receiving address to the destination network and asset before funding the trade. Passing an address-format check does not establish control of the receiving wallet.
Will staking discounts reduce the slip fee on a streamed trade?
Staking-based discounts apply to Thorswap's exchange fee, while the liquidity protocol calculates the slip-based fee separately. Eligible holdings and the connected wallet determine whether an exchange-fee discount appears. A streamed quote can therefore show a discounted interface charge alongside an unchanged protocol fee floor. Read the exchange-fee entry separately from liquidity and network charges.
What does a basis-point fee mean on a streaming quote?
A basis point equals 0.01%, so a fee expressed in basis points describes a proportion of the relevant trade value. That figure does not specify total network costs or promised fee savings. Distinguish the liquidity-fee percentage from the total-fee percentage and from any minimum-output tolerance; they describe different parts of the quote.
How should I interpret a streaming quantity of zero?
Setting streaming_quantity to 0 in a THORChain streaming quote request lets the protocol choose the sub-swap count. The calculation uses trade size, pool depth, and applicable limits. It does not request zero execution attempts or waive liquidity fees. The resulting count belongs to that quote and can change when pool conditions or the requested input change.