A Twitter Poll Reveals the Pain Points

We recently conducted a Twitter (X) poll asking the community about their biggest pain points in cross-chain trading. The results were clear: high slippage and poor routing were identified as the top issues.

You can check the poll results here: Poll Results on Cross-Chain Trading.

This feedback resonated with us at Mettalex. For those unfamiliar with Mettalex: we are the world’s first P2P AI agent-based decentralized exchange (DEX) for secure trading of tokenized digital assets across various blockchain ecosystems. In this blog, we will explore why slippage and routing are major challenges in cross-chain trading and how Mettalex solves them.

Understanding Slippage and Routing

Slippage in trading is the difference between the price you expect and the price you get when your trade executes. If you have ever swapped tokens and ended up with less than anticipated, slippage is to blame.

In cross-chain scenarios, slippage tends to get even worse. Why? Because liquidity is often fragmented across multiple blockchains.

Imagine expecting to receive 100 of token B for your token A, but due to low liquidity on the target chain or exchange, you only get 95. That 5% drop is slippage draining value from your trade.

Poor routing is the other side of the coin. “Routing” refers to the path your trade takes through various tokens, exchanges, or bridges to complete. A poorly routed trade means you didn’t get the best possible price because the path was inefficient. Perhaps the swap went through a less liquid pool or an extra intermediary step that was not needed. In cross-chain trading, routing often involves bridges (to move assets between chains) and multiple swaps. Each hop introduces costs, delays, and another chance for slippage.

A typical scenario: you want to swap Token X on Ethereum (ETH) for Token Y on Binance Smart Chain (BNB). With traditional tools, you might have to:

• Swap Token X for a common asset (like a stablecoin) on ETH,

• Use a bridge to send that asset to BNB and then

• Swap the bridged asset for Token Y on BNB.

Each of those steps can eat into your final amount. If one of the DEX pools you used had a significant price impact or the bridge took time (during which prices moved), you end up with less Y than expected.

What Others Are Doing and Why Slippage and Routing Are So Challenging

The crypto space is well aware of these issues, and various projects have attempted to address slippage and routing in cross-chain trading. Let's take a look at the standard solutions and where the challenges persist:

• Cross-Chain DEX Aggregators: Lately, multichain aggregators like Rango, LI.FI, or those built into wallets have automated the process by finding the best route through DEX swaps and bridges. For instance, an aggregator might split your trade into parts, swap through several pools, or pick an optimal bridge to minimize slippage. This certainly improves routing in many cases, you don't have to manually hunt for the best path. However, the fundamental issues remain. Under the hood, you're still doing multiple hops with intermediate tokens. The aggregators don't actually merge liquidity across chains; they help you navigate it. If there's not enough liquidity on one of the pools, you will still get significant slippage. And aggregators themselves add a layer of complexity; there are more smart contracts in play and more chances for something to go wrong or get delayed. Aggregators also introduce complexity with more smart contracts in play and executing trades one chain at a time can lead to substantial slippage, especially for larger amounts.

  

  
  

• Specialized Cross-Chain Protocols: A few projects (e.g., Thorchain, Cosmos/IBC-based DEXs) attempt native cross-chain swaps. Thorchain uses its own network and liquidity pools, and Cosmos ecosystem chains can use inter-blockchain communication for trading. These designs avoid traditional bridges by having the protocol secure the cross-chain exchange. They can reduce some risk and latency but still fundamentally rely on liquidity pools and arbitrage to set prices. That means if those pools aren't extremely liquid, price impact (slippage) can be high on big trades.

• Slippage Control: Many platforms offer slippage tolerance features to help mitigate the impact of price changes during a trade. This feature allows users to set a limit on how much price difference they're willing to accept between the time they place an order and when it's executed. However, while this can help manage risk, it doesn't completely eliminate slippage, especially in volatile markets.

  For example, you may set a 1% slippage tolerance, meaning that if the price moves more than 1% from when you initiated the trade, it won't execute. But during high volatility, especially in large trades or low liquidity conditions, you could still end up with a worse price than expected.

  

  In summary, existing solutions use intermediary pools/bridges or fancy routing algorithms to try and solve cross-chain trading issues. Yet, users still report these same pain points. The process is either too slow or too costly regarding lost value. You might get a trade done eventually, but it can feel like navigating a maze of exchanges and bridges – with no guarantee you got the best deal.

  How Mettalex Is Doing It Differently

  So, how does Mettalex address high slippage and poor routing? In two words: autonomous agents. Instead of relying on liquidity pools or complex multi-hop paths, Mettalex uses Fetch.ai’s autonomous agents to execute direct P2P trades across chains in real time. Let’s break it down:

  • No Bridges or Wrappers: With Mettalex, you don’t have to wrap tokens or send them through a traditional bridge to trade between chains. You simply place a trade order (for example, swap Token X on Chain A for Token Y on Chain B at a certain price). An autonomous agent will communicate across different blockchains on your behalf. When you place the order, your agent on Chain A will find another agent on Chain B whose user wants the opposite swap. When a match is found, the two agents coordinate to swap those assets directly between the two parties. No bridges. No wrappers. Just your agent talking to another agent on a different chain to exchange assets. It’s a straight line from A to B rather than a winding path through intermediate stops.

  • Direct P2P Matching (No Liquidity Pools): Mettalex does not use AMM liquidity pools. Instead, it operates on a peer-to-peer order book model. Think of it like a decentralized version of a traditional exchange: buyers and sellers place orders, and those orders get matched. The big difference is that the matching is done by autonomous agents, not a centralized server. By eliminating liquidity pools, we eliminate the typical source of slippage. The price you see is the price you get. That means when the trade happens, the final price matches exactly what was agreed – no surprise slippage on execution. If you wanted to trade 1 ETH for 3000 USDC across chains and found a match at that price, you will get 3000 USDC, not 2990 or 2900. This “zero slippage” outcome is a core feature of Mettalex.

  Mettalex offers a truly decentralized, secure trading experience without intermediaries. Using on-chain escrows and autonomous agents, it combines the efficiency of centralized exchanges with the security of a peer-to-peer model. By removing centralized order books and liquidity pools, Mettalex ensures slippage-free, transparent trades. High slippage? Solved with exact price matching. Poor routing? Eliminated with direct chain-to-chain matchmaking.

  
  

  

  The Mettalex Advantage

  Slippage and poor routing are still major pain points in cross-chain trading, but Mettalex has built a system that addresses these challenges head-on. By leveraging Fetch.ai's autonomous agents, we offer more predictable trading experience. With Mettalex, you can confidently trade across multiple blockchains, knowing the process is optimized for efficiency and security.

  For a deeper dive into how Mettalex works and our cross-chain architecture, check out our documentation here: Mettalex Docs - Cross-Chain Architecture.

  Thank you for being a part of the Mettalex community. We look forward to continuously improving your trading experience! If you haven't tried out our public beta yet, visit:https://beta.mettalex.com/