What is Raydium?

## What Is Raydium? [Raydium](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/raydium/) is a [Solana](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/solana/)-based [decentralized exchange](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-exchange-dex) (DEX) with an [automated market maker](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/automated-market-maker-amm) (AMM) model. Users can [swap](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/token-swap), trade, and become [liquidity providers](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-provider-tokens-lp-tokens). The exchange provides liquidity to [Serum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/serum/), another Solana-based exchange with a central [order book](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/order-book) model. Therefore, Raydium users can access the order flow and liquidity of Serum and vice versa. Furthermore, the platform claims to offer the best price swap feature that automatically determines whether a token swap is cheaper if routed through the [liquidity pool](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-pool) or the Serum order book. Users can also add liquidity and receive LP tokens, which represent a proportional share of the pooled assets. Every time a token swap is performed, LP token holders receive 0.22% of the trade volume. It is distributed according to the proportion of liquidity provided to the pool. There is also an option to create permissionless pools, which will also place orders on the Serum order book. This way, users can add any token pairs they wish and earn a share of the trading fees. The native [RAY](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/raydium/) token can be staked to earn additional tokens. It also serves as a [governance token](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/governance-token) that can be used to vote on improvement proposals and fee structures on the exchange. ## Who Are the Raydium Founders? AlphaRay leads overall strategy, operations, product direction and business development for Raydium. With a background in algorithmic trading in commodities, Alpha transitioned to market making and liquidity providing for cryptocurrency in 2017 and hasn't looked back. After diving into DeFi in the summer of 2020, Alpha saw a market need for an order book AMM to aggregate liquidity, and with the release of Serum, pulled together a team of experienced trading developers to tackle the problem head on. XRay is Raydium's Chief of Technology and Dev Team leader. X has 8 years of experience as a trading and low latency systems architect for both traditional and crypto markets. X designs all of Raydium’s systems and infrastructure as needed. GammaRay heads up marketing and communications while also playing a key role in strategy and product direction. Gamma spent a large part of his career at a leading data analytics and market research firm, working on both client engagements and corporate marketing. Prior to Raydium, Gamma's focus within cryptocurrency has been technical analysis and discretionary trading. ## When Did Raydium Launch? Raydium launched on February 21, 2022. ## Where Is Raydium Located? The exchange does not list its location on its Crunchbase profile. ## Raydium Restricted Countries The Raydium Protocol is not available to residents of Belarus, The Central African Republic, The Democratic Republic of Congo, North Korea, Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, the US, Yemen, Zimbabwe and any other jurisdiction in which accessing or using the protocol is prohibited. ## Raydium Supported Coins List Raydium supports all Solana-based SPL tokens. ## How Much Are Raydium Fees? At the time of writing, token swaps incur a 0.25% trading fee, with 0.22% returned to the liquidity pools as a fee reward and 0.03% distributed to the staking pool. ## Is It Possible To Use Leverage or Margin Trade on Raydium? Raydium does not offer [leverage](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/leverage) or [margin trading](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/margin-trading).

Raydium uses liquidity pools and an automated market maker (AMM) algorithm to facilitate trades. Liquidity providers deposit token pairs into pools and earn a share of trading fees. Prices are determined algorithmically based on the ratio of assets in each pool.

Raydium is a non-custodial decentralized exchange, meaning users retain control of their private keys and funds at all times. Smart contract risk is inherent in all DeFi protocols — always review audits and use appropriate position sizes.

Raydium operates on Solana. Multi-chain support allows users to trade assets native to each supported chain without bridging.

Raydium was launched in 2021. Since then it has grown to offer 959 trading markets with $19.98M in 24-hour trading volume.