Orca Exchange Review

Decentralized crypto exchanges are gaining momentum these days. On top of the benefits of relative anonymity and higher security, crypto enthusiasts are drawn to the simple, no-frills approach to trading and staking that DEXs offer. Some platforms nail those aspects better than others, though. Therefore, read this Orca exchange review and meet one that just might turn you into a DEX convert!

This application is a relatively new player in the arena of decentralized AMM crypto exchanges – yet it’s already made a name for itself by testing out new waters. Orca’s biggest selling point is its unique concentrated liquidity pool technology that allows liquidity providers (LP) to compete for cheaper fees. Meanwhile, traders can enjoy cheap and fast transactions on the Solana network, intuitive and helpful UI, and pitch in with the causes they care about through the platform's various community initiatives.

The question still stands, though: is the Orca DEX a worthy choice for users who prefer decentralized crypto trading, or does it pale in comparison to some of the more acclaimed applications, such as Bybit’s Apex Pro? Let’s dive into this Orca exchange review to find out!

Verdict at a glance: Orca is a powerful and versatile decentralized exchange with a primary focus on user-friendly experience. Its main selling point is the CLMM framework that lets liquidity providers concentrate their liquidity to a more narrow price range. Unfortunately, this model comes with an increased risk of divergence loss. Additionally, Orca V1 suffers from a narrow cryptocurrency selection.

What is Orca Exchange?

Before we can move any further with this Orca exchange review, let's unpack its beginnings first: where does Orca come from, and what does it stand for? The developers have certainly put a lot of effort into detailing their cause, so it’s only fair to hear them out. What is Orca crypto exchange all about?

The platform was launched in 2021 by a duo of developers from Tokyo. Its co-founders, Grace “Ori” Kwan and Yutaro Mori, were brought together by a shared vision to create a DEX that combines a user-friendly experience and cutting-edge functionality.

Later that year, the team introduced Orca’s native token, bearing the same name, in an effort to raise the platform’s value and boost user adoption. It was initially launched during an airdrop and distributed to early users based on their contribution to the platform’s liquidity pools. Its maximum supply is capped at 100 million units, as of writing, half of it is already in circulation.

The first version of Orca ran on the Solana network and utilized Constant Product AMM (CPMM) pools. In 2022, the exchange switched to a more advanced liquidity mechanism – Whirlpools.

Initially, the developers originally picked the Solana blockchain for its low transaction fees and reliable performance, but soon enough, they took the opportunity to make a switch to Ethereum. In 2024, Orca V2 launched on Eclipse. It is a modular blockchain that serves as a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, utilizing the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) for execution. This move has built a bridge to Ethereum’s much larger user base and boosted Orca’s liquidity.

Thanks to this framework, the Orca Solana DEX treats its users to incredibly low trading fees, speedy transactions, and efficient liquidity pools that anyone can contribute to. The exchange has several standout UI features, such as displaying the token balance and indicating price differences between Orca and other exchanges. But we’ll get to all that later in this Orca exchange review!

Lastly, the platform functions as a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) – it’s run by a DAO Council whose members are elected by the holders of the ORCA token. The holders also have a hand in formulating and discussing proposals – after all, holding the platform’s in-house token gives them a stake in the company’s future.

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Orca Exchange Review: PROS

Every platform has its flagship features that are meant to set it apart from others – and our exchange in question is no different. Now that I’ve answered the question “What is Orca crypto exchange?”, let’s head for the deep end with this Orca exchange review and find out where its strong suits lie.

Blazing-Fast and Dirt-Cheap Transactions

Like many DEXs, such as Bybit’s Apex Pro, Orca runs on the Automated Market Maker (AMM) model. This type of exchange utilizes liquidity pools to facilitate trades.^[1] Instead of trading directly with each other, users swap coins with the pool while the algorithm automatically calculates the price based on supply and demand within the liquidity pool.

Thanks in part to its consistently high liquidity and trading volume, traders on the Orca exchange can enjoy much more efficient transactions (in terms of both speed and cost) with low rates of slippage (less than 1% or even lower, depending on the tolerance setting).

There’s one specific feature that deserves the lion’s share of credit when it comes to the above-mentioned advantages, though. One of the platform’s core tools many users have praised in their Orca exchange reviews is the Fair Price Indicator, a protocol that scans each transaction and compares its price to those found on several crypto price-tracking websites.

Here’s how it works: whenever you input a trade on Orca, the protocol checks if it meets the two following conditions:

• The trading fee is within 1% of the listed market rate on other crypto price trackers.
• Slippage doesn’t exceed the percentage of slippage tolerance (the default is 1%, but users can set their own rate in the settings).

If both criteria are met, you’ll see a green check mark and can proceed with the transaction. If not, a Rate Warning or Slippage Warning will pop up so that you can decide for yourself whether to go through with your trade or pass it up.

Whirlpools: Orca’s Own Brand of CLMM Pools

As I mentioned earlier in this Orca exchange review, the platform operates as an AMM type of decentralized exchange. However, the developers have found a way to improve upon this model that gave the application a significant edge over similar platforms.

Originally, the Orca exchange used to run on what’s called a Constant Product Automated Market Maker (CPAMM) model, just like most other DEXs. In this model, liquidity is distributed evenly across the entire price range.

Here’s how it translates into practice: if you provide crypto of your choice to a pool, your liquidity is available for trades at any possible price, from $0 to infinity. This means that most of the liquidity isn’t actually being used if the current price is stable within a smaller range.

Whirlpools – Orca’s own type of Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker (CLMM) model whose smart contract was designed entirely from scratch – have completely changed the game. This framework solves the aforementioned problem by letting liquidity providers concentrate their liquidity in specific price ranges.

For example, they can choose to supply liquidity only within the range at which trades are most likely to occur, thus increasing the efficiency of the pool.

The latter is certainly beneficial for traders – but what’s in it for the liquidity providers? The answer is simple – while in the CPAMM model, LPs earn flat staking fees off the crypto they deposited into the pool, Orca’s Whirlpools model ups the ante by letting the providers compete for trading fees and token emissions. Basically, the tighter the price range they set, the higher returns they can reap.

Let me provide another hypothetical scenario to make this clear: suppose you’ve predicted that the price of SOL will fluctuate between $91 and $120 over the next month and choose to provide liquidity within that range in the SOL/USDC Whirlpool. If your hunch is right, you could earn 14.97 times more in fees and rewards than before!

And the advantages don’t end there. The developers have been very vocal about their desire to “democratize” liquidity provision in DEXs. One of the major hurdles in attracting LPs is the hidden costs.

In the Orca Solana DEX, the staker’s position is represented by an NFT token. The way things used to work, each time you created a position NFT to represent your stake, additional Solana accounts had to be created, leading to non-refundable rent costs and additional fees for metadata. These costs couldn’t be recovered, which made liquidity provision quite costly – especially for users juggling multiple positions.

Thanks to the Whirlpools mechanisms, the total cost of opening a position is now 59% lower than before – only 0.0088 SOL! This amounts to an incredibly small investment that even the most budget-savvy readers of this Orca exchange review are likely to find more than competitive.

Finally, the platform allows users to create their own liquidity pools for any token pair they want. You can pick between Constant and Concentrated Liquidity Pools – the former is a more accessible option for beginners who just want a straightforward way to dip their toe into liquidity provision, while the latter is great for more experienced crypto enthusiasts looking to maximize their returns.

In contrast to traditional CPMMs, where users are restricted to a single full-range position, LPs in Orca can maintain multiple full-range positions simultaneously.

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User-Friendly DEX Experience

AMM decentralized exchanges fall into a sort of grey area when it comes to user-friendliness: on the one hand, they’re touted as a more flexible and empowering alternative to CEXs, while on the other, they can be a bit of a headache to figure out if you don’t have a good grasp of how cryptocurrency and DeFi works.

The founders, Kwan and Mori themselves, have lamented this state of affairs and vowed to turn Orca into an exchange that’s designed from the ground up to be as streamlined and intuitive as possible. The whimsical aesthetic alone might motivate someone who’s accidentally stumbled upon it to do a double-take and stick around to learn more. But the pretty UI is just the tip of the iceberg.

In most Ethereum-based AMMs, there’s no option to check your token balance without having to open a browser extension. The Orca crypto exchange fixes this glaring flaw by implementing a Token balance panel. This feature allows you to see your balance for all tokens available on the application right there on its interface. The panel gets updated immediately whenever you make a trade or provide liquidity.

Just like most other exchanges, including Binance and Kraken, the Orca Solana DEX lets users search for tokens and trading pairs by typing in their tickers. You can simply type something like “1 SOL to USDT” and press [Enter]. Afterward, the transaction pop-up will automatically update to show your chosen pair.

Some of the platform’s UX features are aimed at advanced users. To be more specific, Orca offers a comprehensive settings pop-up. With this feature, you can adjust parameters like slippage tolerance, block explorer, RPC endpoint, and priority fees.

No less important to the Orca trading experience is compatibility. This is where the platform truly shines. Orca supports 15 wallets in total, including SafePal. With the help of WalletConnect or MetaMask, you could connect the platform to some hardware wallets like Ledger Flex or Trezor Safe 5, too.

To top it all off, the developers have written up excellent documentation: the official info page features everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the Orca crypto exchange. Whether you’re a trader, a liquidity provider, or a developer, this guide will answer all your questions. There are even video tutorials you can access from the interface itself.

While traditional customer support options seem to be lacking on Orca, the platform makes up for it with its extensive network of social media and community channels. The exchange has its own Discord server with over 17,000 members, a frequently updated Medium blog, and a podcast.

Giving Back to the Community

Outside its own dedicated circles, crypto sometimes gets a bad rap for not being environmentally friendly. While the truth is more nuanced than a lot of people are aware of,^[2] users who are concerned about this particular issue will be happy to hear that the Orca team is certainly pulling their weight when it comes to making a positive contribution.

Soon after the launch of the $ORCA token, the DAO Council held its first “governance vote” to decide which nonprofit organization the company should donate to (in line with the platform’s name, the choices all had to do with the ocean). The winner turned out to be Ocean Conservancy, and the first donation came out at $550,000.

Since then, Orca has allocated 0.01% of trading fees to this charity.

The success of this mission sparked a sustained interest in continuing nonprofit work. The team started looking for more ways to integrate similar initiatives into their user experience. And that’s how the Orcanauts project was born.

“Orcanauts” are NFT collectibles – sort of like a digital pet you can display on your profile. The artist Cori Huang has created 10,000 unique orca-shaped avatars, each with their own distinguishing accessories like bows or hair ties.

You can mint them for the price of 0.6 SOL and 25% of it is automatically set aside for the artist. Meanwhile, the remaining 75% goes to Orca's collaborative project with Aflatoun to develop a DeFi education curriculum for children around the world. The initial ambitious proposal would span 4 regions and reach over 25,000 pupils. Therefore, if you're a fan of NFTs and love a good cause, this project might be right up your alley!

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Orca Exchange Review: CONS

All the above-mentioned features certainly make a strong case in favor of this DEX – but are they enough to tip the scales? The following section of my Orca exchange review will be dedicated to discussing the platform’s shortcomings.

Higher Risk for Liquidity Providers

While Orca’s Whirlpools model is undoubtedly an impressive feat, it comes with its downsides – namely, the risk of impermanent loss.

CLMM pools are, in general, much more prone to impermanent (or divergence) loss. The advantage of concentrated liquidity is a double-edged sword: if the liquidity provider makes a good guess about where the trading prices are heading, they stand to win. However, if their guess doesn’t land because the price of the assets within the pool moves outside the predicted range, the provider loses out on trading fees.

This type of loss is called “impermanent” precisely because it may go away if the prices return to the original range the LP had bet on. Providers can also keep finetuning their position and adjust their price range to match the current trading price. Needless to say, though, this is a lot more effort-intensive than staking your coins in a Constant Product liquidity pool where you can just forget about them for a while.

High volatility in the crypto market exacerbates this problem. No matter how dedicated and knowledgeable an LP is, the price swings can be so rapid that there's simply not enough time to react. To mitigate this, some DEXs have trading bots that allow users to automate their staking so they don't have to keep adjusting the prices manually. That said, sadly, the Orca Solana DEX isn't one of them.

In other words, being a liquidity provider on a CLMM like Whirlpools takes some skill and practice if you want to come out on top. While Orca’s low position-opening fees might encourage beginners to have a go, I would advise any first-timers to educate themselves on the intricacies of CLMM staking as much as possible to avoid getting the short end of the stick.

Limited Cryptocurrency Selection in V1

The choice of available digital assets to trade or stake is one of the main features users are looking for. That's why this Orca exchange review would be incomplete if I didn't cover the cryptocurrency selection. That said, unfortunately, the raw numbers suggest that the platform doesn't quite deliver in this area.

Due to the limitations of the Solana network, the coin and token selection on Orca V1 is limited to Solana-based SPL tokens. Aside from $ORCA (the platform’s in-house governance token), you will find only 31 cryptocurrencies available for trading, including:

• USDT
• SOL
• SRM
• RAY

The good news is that this is no longer relevant to V2, which is based on Ethereum. This opened up Orca’s cryptocurrency selection to a vast number of ERC-20 tokens, coming up to 447 coins and 1148 trading pairs. Some of the new additions are:

• DOT
• SUSHI
• DAI
• JUP

With these numbers, you definitely shouldn’t have any trouble finding the coin or token you need!

Orca Exchange Fees

And now we’ve reached the bit of this Orca exchange review that most readers have probably been waiting for from the very start: Orca’s trading fees (and all the other relevant fees, of course). How much does it cost to use this platform?

If you’re eager to find out – brace yourself! As an AMM decentralized exchange, Orca’s trading fee structure is a bit more complicated than that of most centralized exchanges, such as Binance, Bybit, or Kraken.

The thing is that the Orca DEX contains multiple liquidity pools – and each of them has its own fee structure depending on their tiers. Here’s what this system looks like:

Table: Orca's liquiduity pool fee tiers.

The creators of liquidity pools can set whichever fee tier they want, depending on the kind of LP demographic they’re looking to attract. For instance, pools offering lower costs might attract risk-averse providers and increase trading volume. At the same time, those with higher fees would be more desirable to traders willing to risk more for higher potential yields.

Fee distribution differs between various tiers, as well. Here’s what it looks like for liquidity pools with a fee tier of 0.16% or higher:

• 87% of the trading fees go to the maker (Liquidity Provider);
• 12% to the DAO treasury;
• 1% to the Climate Fund.

In contrast, when it comes to pools with a fee tier of 0.16% or lower, all additional charges are paid to the liquidity provider.

Trading fees are only part of the cost. This is because, when swapping on the Orca DEX, you'll also have network fees to contend with. The exact amount depends on each individual trade. I should mention that Orca charges a higher network fee when you're trading for the first time, as more SOL is needed to add that coin or token to your wallet. Network fees typically range between 0.0001 and 0.001 SOL.

When it comes to liquidity providers, things are much simpler – you have to pay a flat 0.3% fee. Here’s what its allocation looks like:

• 0.25% to LPs;
• 0.04% to Treasury;
• 0.01% to the Impact Fund.

Some readers of this Orca exchange review will no doubt want to know how much it costs to create their own liquidity pool. While the platform itself doesn’t charge anything, LPs still have to pay Solana network, rent, and Metaplex fees for NFT creation.

How to Use Orca Exchange?

Theory is all well and good, but it’s useless without practice. If you’re still with me so far – it’s time to set this Orca exchange review aside and try this platform yourself.

Or, rather, not quite yet! Feel free to refer to this guide as you take your first steps with the Orca crypto exchange.

How to Get Started with Orca?

Unlike centralized exchanges, such as Kraken or Bybit, Orca doesn’t have a registration process as such. Instead, all you’ll need to do is connect your wallet.

Here’s how this goes:

Step 1: Navigate to the top right corner of the homepage and click [Connect Wallet].

Step 2: Pick the wallet of your choice from the list.

Step 3: Click [Continue].

That’s all it takes! You’re now ready to use Orca to trade, provide liquidity, or create your own liquidity pool.

How to Trade on Orca?

Swapping tokens on the Orca DEX couldn’t be more straightforward. Here's what the whole process looks like:

Step 1: On the trade window (which is the default page Orca opens in, so you don’t have to go anywhere), select the cryptocurrencies you want to swap.

Step 2: Enter the amount you wish to exchange. Alternatively, you can select [Half] or [Max] to use that portion of your payment token balance.

Step 3: The pop-up will display the quote for your trade. If you click the drop-down arrow, you’ll see the details for your trade.

Step 4: If you want to adjust slippage manually, you can do it by clicking on the cog symbol in the top right corner.

Step 5: Click [Trade].

That’s it!

Pros

• Very low trading fees
• Exceptional functionality
• Mobile trading app

Main Features

• Very competitive trading fees
• An intuitive mobile app
• Up to 100x leverage available

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Pros

• A very well-known crypto exchange platform
• More than 500 different cryptos available
• Two-factor authentication

Main Features

• Over 500 different cryptocurrencies available
• Strong security
• Small withdrawal fees

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Pros

• Secure and reliable
• Low fees
• A good amount of fiat currencies accepted

Main Features

• Reputable exchange
• Multiple fiat currencies are accepted
• Relatively low trading fees

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Conclusions

Let’s wrap up this Orca exchange review with a quick recap. Launched around the same time as Bybit’s Apex Pro, the Orca crypto exchange is a newcomer to the field of DEXs. However, its developers have definitely succeeded in making a stand for issues they care about. One such example is centering users in their DEX vision and using the platform and its user base as a launching pad for admirable community causes.

Orca prides itself on its custom CLMM framework called Whirlpools, which allows users to provide liquidity only for specific price ranges and potentially earn higher fees as a result. The platform features an intuitive interface and has a number of community initiatives, including a DeFi education project and an ocean protection charity.

The Whirlpools model is not without its downsides, though: LPs willing to try their hand and this more advanced form of liquidity pool staking face a higher risk of divergence loss. What’s more, the currency selection on Orca V1 is limited to SLP tokens, which makes it much too narrow for an average trader’s needs. These shortcomings could easily deter some users from giving this exchange a chance.

The content published on this website is not aimed to give any kind of financial, investment, trading, or any other form of advice. BitDegree.org does not endorse or suggest you to buy, sell or hold any kind of cryptocurrency. Before making financial investment decisions, do consult your financial advisor.

Scientific References

1. J. Xu., K. Paruch., S. Cousaert., et al.: 'SoK: Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) with Automated Market Maker (AMM) Protocols';

2. M. H. Miraz., P. S. Excell., Rafiq, and K. Sobayel.: 'Evaluation of Green Alternatives for Blockchain Proof-of-Work (PoW) Approach'.