If you are moving a business swap from a centralised exchange to your own wallet, compare the final amount from a pool route with any RFQ quote available. An RFQ, or Request for Quote, is a price offered by a market maker for your chosen trade size. A pool swap gets its price from tokens held in a trading pool.
The two routes price your trade differently
A pool swap uses an automated market maker (AMM), a program that sets prices from the changing balance of tokens in a pool. As your trade uses some of one token and adds another, the pool’s price moves. That movement is called price impact; it tends to grow with your trade size and shrink when more liquidity is available.
An RFQ asks a market maker to offer a price for your exact amount. The offer may give you a fixed output for a short time, so it can avoid the price moving through a pool while your transaction is being prepared. It depends on a market maker quoting your pair and size, though, and the quote can expire before you accept it.
On Byreal, the swap system can draw on on-chain liquidity pools and RFQ quotes. The route available depends on the pair, trade size and market conditions. In either case, you review the terms and approve the transaction with your wallet; the quote itself does not move funds.
Compare the amount you will actually receive
Choose the route with the better expected result for the same input, after fees. For example, say you want to swap 5,000 USDC into SOL. An illustrative pool route might show 33.8 SOL after its estimated pool fee and price impact, while a market maker quotes 34.1 SOL for the same amount. If both figures use the same fee basis, the RFQ offers more SOL.
Before choosing, check these items in the swap screen:
- Receive amount: Compare the SOL you expect to receive, not only the displayed rate.
- Fees: Pool routes can charge a trading fee set by the pool. Network fees are separate and paid in SOL. Byreal’s published fee information gives a typical Solana network fee of around 0.00001–0.00002 SOL; the pool fee depends on its fee tier.
- Price impact and slippage: Slippage is the change between the quoted amount and execution. Check the maximum price movement you have allowed, since a tight limit can make a trade fail.
- Quote expiry: If an RFQ is close to expiry, refresh it and compare again before signing.
These figures are examples, not live prices. Fees and quotes change, so use the values shown for your actual trade. If an RFQ has no offer, or its net amount is lower, compare the pool route instead. Jupiter is another example of a Solana trading service that may use routed pool liquidity, but the same net-output check applies across services.
Sign only after checking the transaction
Once you pick a route, confirm the input token, output token, amount, receive estimate and fee in your wallet before approving. A token’s ticker alone may not identify it uniquely; check that the asset and network match your intended trade. Keep enough SOL in the wallet to cover the network fee.
If the quote expires, the route changes, or the receive amount falls below your minimum, reject it and request a fresh quote. A failed on-chain transaction can still cost a network fee. Byreal’s RFQ and pool routes suit different trades, so decide again whenever the amount, available liquidity or quoted output changes.