Using AXIS
What is AXIS
AXIS is a decentralized trustless limit orderbook exchange (DEX) for Stellar. It was built as a successor to the Classic Stellar DEX. It keeps the model Stellar traders already know well, an orderbook with limit orders and swaps across markets, and moves it into a smart contract that anyone can call, inspect and build on. Apps that already trade on the Classic DEX can follow Migrating from the Classic DEX.
"Trustless" means you never hand your tokens to anyone. You trade straight from your own wallet. Your tokens stay in your wallet until a trade settles. The AXIS contract checks every price and settles the trade in the same transaction: the taker pays the maker directly, and the maker's tokens pass through the contract on their way to the taker. Nobody, including protocol developers, can access your tokens: the contract can only move them to settle trades you signed or fills of your own orders at your price.
What you can do#
- Place limit orders. Offer to buy or sell at a price you choose, for example "sell 100 XLM at 0.25 USDC each". Whatever does not fill right away stays on the book as an order until someone takes it, you cancel it, or it expires.
- Place market orders. Buy or sell right now at the best prices on the book.
- Swap across markets. Trade one asset for another through several markets in a single transaction, for example XLM to EURC through USDC.
- Update and cancel orders. Change the price, amount or expiration of an open order in place, or remove it from the book.
The Orders page explains each order type. The AXIS app supports limit orders, market orders, swaps and. Order updates, expiration times and Fill-or-Kill orders are available to any smart contracts or web apps using the JS client.
Who it is for#
- Traders who want orderbook trading without giving up custody of their funds.
- Wallets that want to offer trading inside the wallet. See Wallet integration.
- Trading interfaces that want to build on a shared, open orderbook. Start with the Integration overview.
- Market makers who operate on multiple markets and trade at scale. See Market making.
- Bots that route trades, match crossed orders or keep markets running. See Bots and arbitrage and Running a keeper.
- And just regular users that want to sell some tokens at a pre-defined price with minimum friction.
AXIS compared with other ways to trade#
Stellar already offers two other ways to trade: the orderbook built into the network (the Classic DEX) and automated market maker (AMM) pools, where you swap against a shared pool of tokens.
| AXIS | Classic Stellar DEX | AMM pools | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where orders live | One small storage entry per order in the AXIS contract | Offers stored in the Stellar ledger as entries of your account | No orders. Liquidity sits in a shared pool |
| Your funds while an order is open | Stay in your wallet and are not locked | Stay in your account but are reserved for the offer | Liquidity providers deposit their tokens into the pool |
| Price you get | Your limit price or better | Your offer price or better | Set by the pool formula, worse for larger trades |
| Trading fees | None | None | A pool fee on every swap |
| Who matches orders | Apps, wallets and bots pick orders. The contract checks and settles them | The Stellar network matches crossing offers automatically | No matching. The pool formula sets the price |
| Order types | Limit, market, Fill-or-Kill, swaps across markets | Limit offers, path payments | Swaps |
| Use from Soroban smart contracts | Yes, AXIS is a Soroban contract | No | Yes for Soroban AMM contracts, no for Stellar's built-in pools |
| SEP41 tokens support | Yes, any SEP41 contracts | No | Only Soroban AMMs |
| Cost of an open order | About 0.041 XLM of storage rent per new order, not refunded | 0.5 XLM of reserve per offer, returned when the offer closes | Transaction fees only |
Because AXIS does not lock your funds, an open order can only fill while your balance and the permission you gave the contract cover it. Allowances and your funds explains how this works, and Fees and costs explains the storage rent.
Current status#
Try it with free test tokens in the AXIS app at dex-demo.axis.markets on Stellar Testnet.
Where to go next#
- How AXIS works explains the contract, the indexer and the AXIS API, and follows one trade from start to finish.
- Orders covers limit orders, market orders, updates and order backing.
- Allowances and your funds explains why AXIS is a security-first protocol and why your tokens never leave your wallet until a fill.
- Trading with the AXIS app walks you through your first trade.
- Features and limitations sums up the strengths and the current limits.
- Developers and tech-savvy users can start with the Integration overview.