Solana PropAMMs Show Lower Costs for Quiet SOL/USDC Trades

Proprietary automated market makers on Solana had lower measured execution costs than conventional pools for quiet-market Solana (SOL) and USDC trades, while short-term post-trade figures do not show what depositors earned.

For trades made when the reference price was not moving — a proxy for retail flow, not verified trader identities — execution cost measured 0.26 basis points at proprietary AMMs, or propAMMs, and 2.59 basis points at conventional AMMs. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Two seconds after a trade, maker markouts were +0.37 basis points for propAMMs and −0.22 basis points for conventional AMMs. A markout compares a trade price with a later reference price. It does not account for depositor fees, inventory exposure, hedging or other costs, so it cannot establish a depositor’s net return.

A propAMM lets one operator set prices and update them without waiting for a trade. Conventional AMMs generally update pool prices through trades. If external prices change before a conventional pool updates, arbitrageurs may trade against its outdated quote, exposing liquidity providers to losses.

Across the Sept. 1, 2025, to Aug. 31, 2026, sample, average daily SOL/USDC volume was $1.12 billion for propAMMs and $292 million for conventional AMMs. Volume declined from the first 90 days to the last 90 days: propAMMs averaged $1.82 billion in the first period and $530 million in the last, while conventional AMMs fell from $564 million to $180 million.

The observed cost, markout and volume figures do not establish that propAMMs caused aggregate losses for passive liquidity providers or that depositor returns at conventional pools fell. The research is a preprint submitted Sept. 29.