Ethereum AMMs vs Starknet Orderbooks

Deep, permissionless liquidity: Access to $50B+ in TVL across protocols like Uniswap V3, Curve, and Balancer. This matters for launching new tokens or large-cap swaps where immediate liquidity is critical. Full EVM composability: Seamless integration with lending (Aave), yield (Yearn), and other DeFi primitives via atomic transactions.

Transparent fee model: LP fees are known (e.g., 0.05%, 0.3%, 1%) and captured entirely by LPs. Predictable price impact: Slippage follows the constant product formula (x*y=k), allowing for accurate trade simulation. This matters for automated strategies and retail users who prioritize cost certainty over best execution.

CEX-like execution: Support for limit orders, stop-loss, and TWAP via protocols like zkLend and Nostra. This matters for professional traders and institutional strategies requiring precise entry/exit points. Reduced MEV: Prover-verified execution and intent-based architectures minimize front-running and sandwich attacks.

High TPS, low fees: Starknet's Validity Rollup handles 100+ TPS with fees often below $0.01, enabling high-frequency strategies. No idle capital: Capital isn't locked in LP pools; it remains in spot positions until orders fill. This matters for maximizing ROI and strategies sensitive to gas costs.

Dominant TVL and Composability: Over $30B+ in TVL across protocols like Uniswap V3, Curve, and Balancer. This deep, permissionless liquidity is seamlessly composable with the entire DeFi stack (lending, derivatives, yield). This matters for protocols that need to tap into the broadest, most integrated liquidity network.

Transparent, On-Chain Fee Model: All swaps and LP actions incur gas fees on Ethereum L1, which are predictable and paid in ETH. While variable, this avoids hidden costs or sequencer dependencies. This matters for financial models requiring precise, auditable cost accounting and settlement finality on the base layer.

Zero Slippage for Limit Orders: Protocols like zkLend and Nostra enable traditional orderbook matching (bid/ask) on a ZK-Rollup. This eliminates slippage for limit orders and allows for complex strategies like stop-losses. This matters for professional traders, perps/options protocols, and any application where precise price execution is critical.

High TPS with Low Fees: As a Validity Rollup, Starknet batches thousands of orders off-chain, enabling ~100+ TPS and sub-dollar fees. This low-latency environment is essential for high-frequency strategies and dense financial applications that are cost-prohibitive on Ethereum L1.

Deep, battle-tested liquidity: Protocols like Uniswap V3 and Curve hold $10B+ TVL collectively. This provides superior price stability for large trades and is critical for stablecoin pairs and blue-chip assets.

Native integration with the DeFi super-app: Seamless interaction with lending protocols (Aave, Compound), yield aggregators, and perps. This enables complex, atomic strategies (e.g., flash loans into swaps) that are the bedrock of on-chain finance.

Limit orders and MEV resistance: Native support for advanced order types (limit, stop-loss) via protocols like zkLend and Nostra. Trades execute at specified prices, eliminating slippage and front-running common in AMM pools.

Sub-cent fees for complex logic: Starknet's ZK-rollup architecture bundles thousands of orders. This makes frequent, small trades and sophisticated strategies (grid trading) economically viable, unlike Ethereum's ~$5-50 per swap.

High gas fees and slow finality: Mainnet base fees often make small trades (<$1k) unprofitable. Block times of ~12 seconds and network congestion can lead to failed transactions and price drift during volatility.

Emerging, fragmented liquidity pools: Current TVL on Starknet is ~$200M, orders of magnitude lower than Ethereum. This can lead to wider spreads for exotic pairs and less robust price discovery for new assets.