What a swap costs
A swap has three kinds of cost. Only one of them goes to ChainBridge, and all three are visible before you sign.
Platform fee
A small percentage of the trade, collected on-chain inside the swap transaction. It is shown as ChainBridge fee in the quote, in percent and in USD.
Network fee (gas)
Paid in the network's native coin to the validators who include your transaction. It depends on the network and how busy it is, not on ChainBridge.
Pool fees and price impact
Liquidity pools charge their own trading fee, and a large order moves the price. Both are already inside the quoted amount and show up in the price impact figure.
What you never pay
No account, no subscription and no API key. No fee on positive slippage: if the price moves in your favour, the extra tokens are yours.
The ChainBridge fee
The platform fee depends on the USD value of what you sell, with a flat rate for stablecoin pairs.
- Under $1,000
- 0.05%
- $0.50 per $1,000
- $1,000 to $10,000
- 0.1%
- $1 per $1,000
- $10,000 and above
- 0.2%
- $2 per $1,000
- Stablecoin pairs
- 0.01%
- Any size
Platform fee
0.1%
$5.00 on this trade
Show data as a table
| Trade size | Standard pair | Stablecoin pair |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | 0% ($0.00) | 0.01% ($0.05) |
| $999 | 0% ($0.00) | 0.01% ($0.10) |
| $1,000 | 0.1% ($1.00) | 0.01% ($0.10) |
| $5,000 | 0.1% ($5.00) | 0.01% ($0.50) |
| $9,999 | 0.1% ($10.00) | 0.01% ($1.00) |
| $10,000 | 0.2% ($20) | 0.01% ($1.00) |
| $100,000 | 0.2% ($200) | 0.01% ($10) |
| $1,000,000 | 0.2% ($2K) | 0.01% ($100) |
A few details decide which rate applies:
- Boundaries. A trade of exactly $1,000 pays 0.1%, and exactly $10,000 pays 0.2%. The rate applies to the whole trade, not to the part above a threshold.
- Stablecoin pairs. When both tokens are USD stablecoins on the same network (USDC, USDT, DAI and others on a curated list), the fee is 0.01% at any size.
- Unknown price. If the USD value of your trade cannot be determined, the fee is 0.1%. It never falls back to the smallest tier.
Worked examples
The fee for four example trades. Network fees are left out because they depend on the network you use.
| Trade | Tier | Rate | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 of ETH → USDC | Under $1,000 | 0.05% | $0.25 |
| $5,000 of ETH → USDC | $1,000 to $10,000 | 0.1% | $5.00 |
| $50,000 of ETH → USDC | $10,000 and above | 0.2% | $100.00 |
| $20,000 of USDC → USDT | Stablecoin pair | 0.01% | $2.00 |
The last row shows why the stablecoin rate exists. A $20,000 trade would normally pay 0.2%, or $40. Between two dollar stablecoins the price barely moves, so ChainBridge charges $2 instead.
How fees affect which route wins
ChainBridge asks 0x, KyberSwap and ParaSwap for a quote in parallel. Each source deducts the fee before it reports the amount you receive, so the comparison is made on what actually lands in your wallet. Gas is then subtracted too: the router ranks routes by the amount received after fees and gas.
A source that does not carry the ChainBridge fee still competes on that same net amount. If it leaves you more, it wins, the quote shows None on this route next to ChainBridge fee, and the fee is simply forgone. The router has no default preference for any source.
Gas is a separate cost
The network fee is paid to the network. ChainBridge never receives any part of it. The quote shows it as Network fee, with a tilde (~) when it is estimated from gas units and the current gas price. The Cost figure next to the rate adds the network fee and the ChainBridge fee together.
Gas often matters more than the platform fee on small trades. On Ethereum mainnet a swap can cost several dollars in gas, which dwarfs a $0.25 fee on a $500 trade. Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Base or Optimism usually cost cents. On supported networks, a gasless route lets 0x's relayer submit the swap for you: the quote shows “None (gasless)” and the relayer's cost is built into the quoted amount. See understanding gas fees and gasless trading.
Widget partners and cross-chain routes
Embedded widget. Websites can embed the ChainBridge swap widget and set their own fee. The partner's fee address must be on an allowlist, and the fee is capped at 3%. It replaces the ChainBridge fee rather than adding to it: the quote shows ChainBridge fee: None and a separate Partner fee line. Check that line before you swap on a third-party site. Developers can read the widget integration guide.
Cross-chain swaps. Each cross-chain route lists its own costs: the network fee of the source transaction, a bridge fee when the provider reports one, and the ChainBridge fee for that route. Relay routes use the same tiers as same-chain swaps, including 0.01% between stablecoins. When a route carries no ChainBridge fee, it says “None on this route”. THORChain's own fees for native Bitcoin swaps are deducted from the amount you receive. See cross-chain trading.