Matcha Auto is now live on Arbitrum, bringing gasless swaps and approvals, MEV protection, and quicker trade execution, all for the same great prices as Standard mode. Enjoy the best DeFi experience at a fraction of the price of competing exchanges. 

Regular token swaps on Matcha are already quick, free, and available across all 9 blockchains. But interacting with DEXs does have its drawbacks: you can’t send a token without holding the native cryptocurrency, public transactions can be targeted by sandwich attacks and other types of MEV, and trades fail as markets fluctuate. 

What is Matcha Auto

Matcha Auto takes the friction out of everyday DeFi. Gas issues? Gone. Nasty MEV surprises? Not anymore! Failed trades? Fewer than any other DEX. Simply said, Matcha Auto makes it easy and quick to swap without worrying about technical barriers. 

Behind the easy, flick-of-a-switch interface, Matcha Auto is powered by metatransactions through the 0x Tx Relay API. This is a sophisticated solution that settles trades through private market makers, avoiding public mempools to get you the most competitive rates, safely and efficiently. 

So how does this help with gasless trades? When transactions are handled through this API, the gas fee is paid by 0x up-front, and then collected back from the tokens you buy instead of having to have Ethereum or other native tokens in your account. 

Why go gasless?

Gas is fundamental to how EVM chains operate, but in today’s landscape it can quickly become a burden. Without needing to pay for gas yourself, you can:

• Trade tokens without needing the native cryptocurrency
• Approve token spends without topping up gas
• Swap tokens across networks without worrying about native tokens

Use Matcha Auto on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base and Polygon

The gas problem in DEX trading

Imagine you sent 200 USDC to your Arbitrum account for a quick swap, only to realize you swept all your Ethereum to your hardware wallet for safekeeping weeks ago. Oops. 

Now, a trade that should have cost a couple of dollars in gas fees means a 40 minute drive home (more gas), unlocking your Ledger, debating how much ETH to send, and finally refueling your account with just enough for two transactions. 

So, you finally make the swap. But fees have spiked in the meantime and now you can’t send your new memecoin fortune back to cold storage. If only there were a better way!

Gasless trades make DeFi easier

Gasless swaps make stranded tokens a thing of the past. If you have USDC but no Ethereum sitting Arbitrum, you can now swap it just like normal, and the rate you get using Matcha Auto will be the same.

Your transaction still technically uses gas, but the gas doesn’t come from you - it comes from 0x. When you receive the tokens you wanted, a portion of the traded amount is used to pay back 0x for covering the transaction cost.

Save money with Matcha Auto

While regular swaps on Matcha are always free, there is a base cost of 0.25% for Matcha Auto transactions - the same Uniswap charges for a regular swap. So how can Matcha Auto actually save you money? Cost savings accrue from a number of places, and can compound if you use Auto regularly: 

• Protection from MEV: MEV hunters can siphon value off any trade you make in a public mempool, which can mean thousands of dollars lost in larger transactions.
• Gas savings: topping up gas means more transactions, each with its own fees, as we’ve covered above.
• Improved price execution: when you swap through a DEX aggregator, you get the best price available via public AMMs, but completing your trade on Matcha Auto through private market makers can result in a better price, without slippage. 
• Faster trade confirmation: your trades are more likely to get into the next block faster, letting you beat the crowd to sought-after tokens.

Gasless approvals

Matcha is not the only platform with gasless swaps, but competitors like 1inch fail in one key area: you need to approve spending a token before you can swap, which also costs gas. Matcha Auto introduces gasless approvals, so you can trade tokens without needing gas even if you haven’t previously approved them. That means you can be truly flexible and friction-free when using a chain where Matcha Auto is supported.

Refueling on other chains

If you’re out of gas but have tokens you want to trade on one of the networks where Matcha Auto is not yet supported, you can still use a cross chain swap to top up gas from another chain. Using one of Matcha's integrated bridges such as Refuel or Across aggregated by cross chain provider Socket, is a relatively cheap and quick way to get Ether or another native crypto where you need it. With direct swaps from one token to another across 7 chains, you’ll never face stranded tokens again, once you switch to Matcha!