Decentralized exchanges allow users to swap cryptocurrency assets by using smart contracts and on-chain transactions to reduce or eliminate the need for an intermediary. Instead of having to go through an exchange where you have to identify yourself and give-up custody over your assets a DEX lets you remain in control.

A DEX aggregator is a platform that scans all decentralized exchanges for you to find you the best price on the market. Typically, the network fees are a bit higher but if you’re trading large amounts the savings on the token price can be worth the higher network cost.

The smart contracts powering a decentralized exchange are “immutable” meaning they exist on the Blockchain forever and no one can change them. The fees go to liquidity providers and sometimes to the decentralized organization (DAO) that developed the contracts.

On a decentralized exchange anyone can list any token for trading and anyone can buy a token from anywhere in the world. There is no centralized gatekeeper that prevents you from listing your own token. Moreover, because everything happens on-chain there are efficiency gains which translate into lower costs for end-users.

There are two kinds of fees involved. Liquidity provider fees which go to the people who sell the asset to you and network fees which go to the validators securing the Blockchain you are transacting on.