How Block Trade Works

How Block Trade Works

Block Trade bridges decentralized user control with centralized liquidity. It enables large token swaps with minimal slippage by connecting your connected, self-custodial wallet directly to off-chain liquidity providers — all without giving up custody of your funds.


Core Mechanism

Block Trade uses Loopring’s smart contract infrastructure and relayer system to coordinate large trades between users (like you) and market makers. Here's how it works:

  1. Quote & Lock

    • You query real-time pricing from Loopring’s relayer.

    • If you accept the price, the relayer locks your tokens and submits a swap order (including price and amount) with your signature.

  2. Order Visibility

    • The order is posted off-chain.

    • A market maker sees your offer and decides whether to accept it.

  3. CEX Execution by Market Maker

    • The market maker submits a taker order to the centralized exchange (CEX) at or better than your quoted price.

    • The agreed-upon amount is settled based on available liquidity.

  4. Final Settlement on Loopring

    • The market maker signs the settlement message.

    • Loopring relayer settles the trade between both parties.

    • Any remaining tokens (if not fully matched) are unlocked and returned to you.

Simulated Block Trade between user A and market maker B using Loopring's relayer and CEX liquidity.

What Makes It Different?

Feature
Traditional DEX
CEX
Block Trade

Custody

User-owned

CEX-owned

User-owned

Slippage on Large Trades

High

Low

Low

Requires Order Splitting

Often

No

No

Direct Access to CEX Liquidity

No

Yes (but centralized)

Yes (with DeFi custody)


Security Model

Block Trade is built on top of Loopring’s protocol-level contracts. Key protections include:

  • No custody risk – trades are signed and approved by the user wallet

  • No hidden approvals – token allowances are scoped to the transaction


🔗 Quick Access

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