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CoW Swap is quickly establishing its position in the DEX aggregator field, capturing 26% market share in January 2025, a significant increase from the 12% level in the same period last year. With this growth momentum, the platform has the potential to surpass 1inch to become the leading DEX aggregator in the market.
In January 2025, the total trading volume on CoW Swap reached nearly $5 billion, down from the peak of $7.8 billion in December 2024, but still maintaining an impressive scale. One notable transaction came from World Liberty, with a total value of $90 million, involving the exchange of stablecoins for various assets such as ETH, WBTC, LINK, ENA, and TRX through orders worth $470,000.
The "Coincidence of Wants" (CoW) Mechanism Optimizes Transaction Fees
The distinguishing feature of CoW Swap compared to its competitors is the "Coincidence of Wants" (CoW) mechanism, which helps match orders directly between traders before pushing the transactions into AMMs. This reduces the dependence on liquidity pools, thereby optimizing transaction fees, reducing slippage, and protecting users from MEV attacks.
Ethereum continues to be the primary platform, with $3.8 billion in monthly transactions on CoW Swap. Base is also emerging as a notable ecosystem, with $1 billion in monthly transactions, becoming a significant secondary platform. The majority of transactions revolve around USD-pegged stablecoins, ETH (both wrapped and native), and WBTC, reflecting the trend of trading focused on large asset pairs.
Current data shows that 50% of transactions on the platform have better-than-expected slippage, while 45% have lower-than-expected slippage.
The DEX Aggregator Market is Becoming Increasingly Competitive
In addition to CoW Swap, platforms like Kyber and Bebop are also gaining market share, indicating investors' search for optimal trading solutions. DEX aggregators are currently one of the most fiercely competitive segments, with 1inch's market share declining to 30%.
As more institutional and whale investors return to on-chain trading, the ability to efficiently process large orders will become a decisive factor. The ability to minimize slippage and provide competitive pricing will be the key for DEX aggregators to gain an advantage in the market. Recent large-value transactions have shown the growing trust of institutions in DEX aggregators to execute large-volume buy/sell orders.
