DEX / Automated Market Maker

Uniswap V3

Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, Optimism Concentrated Liquidity AMM Data as of March 2026

Uniswap is the largest decentralized exchange by liquidity and one of the most battle-tested protocols in DeFi. It uses an automated market maker model where liquidity providers deposit token pairs into pools, and traders swap against those pools. Version 3 introduced concentrated liquidity, allowing LPs to specify price ranges for their capital.

Fee per Transaction

0.30%

Default tier. Also: 0.01%, 0.05%, 1.00%

Round Trip Cost

$5.99

Buy + Sell on $1,000

TVL

~$4.5B

Across all chains (DefiLlama)

How It Works

Traders pay a swap fee on every trade. This fee goes entirely to liquidity providers (LPs) who deposited tokens into the pool. Since late 2025, a protocol fee switch has been activated: 17% of LP fees on Ethereum are redirected to buy back and burn UNI tokens.

Uniswap V3 offers four fee tiers (0.01%, 0.05%, 0.30%, 1.00%). The default for most volatile pairs is 0.30%. Stablecoin pairs typically use 0.01% or 0.05%. The fee tier is set per pool and chosen by liquidity providers at pool creation.

Gas fees are separate and vary by network. On Ethereum L1, a swap can cost $5 to $50+ in gas. On Arbitrum or Base, gas is typically under $0.50.

Strengths

+Deepest liquidity in DeFi. Uniswap consistently offers the lowest slippage for major trading pairs across Ethereum and its L2s.

+Battle-tested. Live since 2018. Survived multiple market cycles, exploits on other protocols, and regulatory pressure without a security breach on the core contracts.

+Multi-chain. Available on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, and more. Same interface, same security model.

+Open source and permissionless. Anyone can create a pool, provide liquidity, or build on top of Uniswap.

Risks

xImpermanent loss for LPs. If token prices diverge significantly, LPs can lose value compared to simply holding the tokens. This is the primary risk of providing liquidity.

xMEV and front-running. On Ethereum L1, trades can be front-run by bots extracting value from pending transactions. L2s and private mempools mitigate but do not eliminate this.

!Gas costs on Ethereum L1. Complex swaps on mainnet can cost $20 to $100+ in gas, making small trades uneconomical. L2s solve this but add bridging complexity.

Open Uniswap ↗ Compare Fees ↗

Disclosure: This profile is provided for informational purposes only. White & TT does not hold a position in UNI. Fee data reflects publicly documented parameters as of March 2026. Always verify current fees on the protocol. This is not financial advice.

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