A Complete Guide to the 1inch Swap

1inch is a leading DeFi aggregator that aims to make crypto trading more efficient and user-friendly. Its Swap product combines liquidity from numerous sources to secure optimal token prices and offers multiple trading methods, including seamless cross-chain transactions. This comprehensive guide breaks down all three swap modes available on 1inch — Simple, Advanced, and Limit Order — and demonstrates how Fusion and Fusion+ enable gas-free swaps and cross-chain trades. You will also learn about 1inch's robust security infrastructure and understand why it positions itself as a superior alternative to conventional aggregators and DEX platforms.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• 1inch Swap supports multiple modes including Simple, Advanced, and Limit Orders for flexible token trading across chains.
• Key features include gasless swaps, MEV protection, bridgeless cross-chain execution, and advanced security with real-time screening.
• Unlike traditional platforms, 1inch avoids bridges, aggregates deeper liquidity, and executes trades through auction-driven resolver systems.

Swap Modes on 1inch: Simple vs. Advanced vs. Limit Orders

1inch provides a flexible trading interface with three distinct modes designed to accommodate different user needs and experience levels: Simple mode, Advanced mode, and Limit Orders. All modes leverage 1inch's sophisticated aggregation technologies to secure competitive rates, but each offers different features and levels of control tailored to specific trading scenarios.

Simple Mode

Simple mode is specifically designed for quick, straightforward token swaps with minimal complexity. The interface maintains a clean and intuitive design, focusing primarily on the essential function of swapping one token for another without overwhelming users with additional charts, metrics, or complex settings.

Under the hood, Simple mode utilizes 1inch's innovative Fusion mechanism and Fusion+ technology for cross-chain swaps. A notable advantage is the absence of visible gas fees, as resolvers cover these costs while simultaneously protecting transactions from front-running attacks. Fusion+ particularly stands out because it enables users to swap assets across different blockchain networks without relying on any bridges, all from a single interface. This approach allows users to maintain full custody of their funds throughout the process and completely avoid the security risks associated with traditional bridge protocols.

Users don't need to pay network fees or hold native tokens like ETH or BNB for gas, as the swap is executed via professional resolvers who absorb these costs as part of their service.

How Intent-Based Swaps Work (Fusion & Fusion+)

Resolvers are specialized third-party actors who fulfill user swap intents on both Fusion and Fusion+ protocols. When initiating a trade, you create an "order intent" that precisely specifies which tokens you want to trade and your acceptable price range. This intent enters a Dutch auction mechanism where multiple resolvers compete to fill your order under the most favorable terms. When a resolver accepts the specified conditions, they pay the required gas fees, source liquidity from various DEXs or mainstream trading platforms, and complete the swap on-chain. If the order expires without finding a suitable match within the designated timeframe, it cancels automatically, ensuring your funds remain completely safe.

Fusion+ extends this same proven process to enable cross-chain swaps. You sign an intent that specifies a destination chain and an acceptable exchange rate. Resolvers must lock the source-chain tokens into a secure escrow contract and simultaneously lock the equivalent target-chain tokens into a second escrow on the destination network. Both escrow contracts rely on a shared secret hash and a timelock mechanism to ensure atomic execution.

Once both sides confirm their commitments, the secret is revealed, allowing the resolver to finalize the swap atomically. Throughout this entire process, you never lose custody of your funds unless the swap completes successfully according to your specifications.

Simple mode is ideal for users who prioritize obtaining the best price with minimal effort and prefer a distraction-free trading experience.

Advanced Mode

Advanced mode provides access to the complete suite of 1inch features specifically designed for experienced traders who require detailed control and visibility. In this mode, users gain access to live price charts, comprehensive trade route details, and extensive swap configuration options.

You can view exactly how 1inch intelligently splits your trade across multiple liquidity sources and adjust critical parameters such as slippage tolerance, route priority preferences, partial-fill allowance, and your preferred gas token. This level of transparency and control enables sophisticated trading strategies.

Advanced mode allows you to select Classic swap execution and fine-tune advanced settings according to your specific requirements. Classic swap utilizes the powerful Pathfinder algorithm to strategically split orders across various liquidity sources, with detailed visualization displayed directly in the user interface. This provides complete transparency into how your trade is being executed and optimized.

Advanced mode is best suited for traders who need to analyze routing decisions, adjust trade parameters precisely, and fine-tune executions based on current market conditions.

Limit Orders

1inch's Limit Order feature empowers users to place trades at specific target prices, providing significantly greater control over trade execution compared to market orders.

In simple terms, a Limit Order remains active until the market reaches your specified conditions, rather than filling immediately at the current market price. The system, powered by the sophisticated 1inch Limit Order protocol, enables completely fee-free order placement.

You can specify the exact token pair, desired price point, and expiration time (for example, sell 1 ETH when it reaches 5,000 USDC). Orders are maintained off-chain and only filled when the specified conditions are met, meaning no gas fees are required to place them. This provides a cost-effective way to implement strategic trading plans.

Limit orders are readily available in advanced mode under the corresponding tab. You can also conveniently access this feature from the "Trade" dropdown menu located in the swap section of the 1inch website.

Limit orders prove especially useful for automating trades at optimal price points without requiring constant monitoring, while simultaneously reducing both gas usage and slippage compared to manual execution methods.

The 1inch Fusion Protocol: Intent-Based Gasless Swaps

One of 1inch's most powerful and innovative aspects is the Fusion protocol, which introduced intent-based, gasless swaps to the DeFi ecosystem. This represents a significant advancement in how users can interact with decentralized exchanges.

In Fusion mode, users can swap tokens without paying gas fees or dealing with miner extractable value attacks — a major advantage for on-chain traders seeking to optimize their trading costs and execution quality.

Fusion allows users to create an "order intent" that specifies exactly what they want to trade and under what conditions, instead of executing a swap directly through a DEX at the current market price. This intent-based approach provides greater flexibility and better outcomes.

This intent functions like a flexible limit order with a defined price range and time window. Once signed, the order is passed to resolvers — professional market makers with deep liquidity access — who compete to fill it under the most favorable terms.

Resolvers pay all gas fees required to complete the swap on-chain, so users don't need to hold native chain tokens like ETH or BNB to cover gas costs. This removes a significant barrier to entry for new users. Fusion employs a Dutch auction model to determine optimal pricing.

Initially, the price favors users, and over time it gradually shifts toward the resolver's price target. This design intelligently incentivizes resolvers to fill orders early to secure better profit margins, while still honoring the user's specified price limits and ensuring fair execution.

If the order reaches the end of the designated time window without being filled at acceptable terms, it expires automatically without execution, ensuring users never receive unfavorable prices.

When resolvers execute trades, they aggregate liquidity from DEXs, mainstream trading platforms, and their internal inventory, thereby providing users with access to deep, distributed liquidity pools. Even large orders can be filled in parts by multiple resolvers working in coordination to minimize slippage and optimize execution.

Gasless execution represents a key benefit of the Fusion protocol. Resolvers bundle your trade into their own transactions and earn arbitrage profits or spread, while you only pay the swap amount and a small fee that's transparently included in the exchange rate.

MEV Protection

MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) refers to the profit a validator or miner can gain by strategically reordering, inserting, or excluding transactions within a block. This often results in front-running or sandwich attacks that significantly worsen trade outcomes for regular users, potentially costing them substantial value.

Fusion provides robust protection for users against MEV attacks like front-running or sandwiching. Because the order is filled by a trusted resolver and submitted as a private, bundled transaction, MEV bots monitoring the public mempool never see it, eliminating the opportunity for manipulation.

Some resolvers utilize private execution channels and direct validator connections to further prevent any form of manipulation. This ensures a fairer and more transparent trading environment, even for large swaps that would typically be vulnerable to MEV attacks.

Fusion vs. Classic Swaps

Before Fusion's introduction, 1inch swaps used a "classic" model, where trades were executed immediately and the user paid gas fees directly. Classic mode remains available and proves useful when instant, guaranteed execution is required, such as during time-sensitive trading opportunities.

However, the Fusion protocol has become the default option for Simple mode because it consistently provides better outcomes after factoring in gas savings and MEV protection. The overall cost efficiency and execution quality typically surpass classic swaps.

1inch's comprehensive in-house analysis demonstrates that users save approximately 9.5% compared to competitor swaps when using Fusion — primarily due to significant gas savings and advanced execution optimization that the protocol provides.

Cross-Chain Swaps With Fusion+

Cross-chain interoperability has long represented one of the most significant challenges in DeFi infrastructure. Traditionally, swapping tokens across different blockchain networks required using bridge protocols or centralized platforms — both approaches proved slow, relatively expensive, and introduced concerning custodial risks that could result in loss of funds.

Fusion+ fundamentally changes this paradigm by enabling secure, bridgeless cross-chain swaps directly within the platform. This innovation removes multiple friction points that previously hindered cross-chain trading.

You can swap tokens from one blockchain network to another (for example, from Ethereum to BNB Chain) in a single streamlined step without relying on third-party bridges or custodial intermediaries. Critically, you retain complete self-custody throughout the entire process, never surrendering control of your assets.

The process is atomic, meaning the swap either completes in full according to specifications or fails with an automatic refund — there are no partial outcomes or stuck funds scenarios that plague traditional bridge solutions.

How Fusion+ Works

Fusion+ is built on proven atomic swap principles using 1inch's purpose-built smart contracts and a network of professional resolvers. When initiating a cross-chain swap, you sign an order intent that specifies the destination token, target chain, and acceptable exchange rate.

The intent is shared with the resolver network, who monitor a Dutch auction where the price gradually adjusts over time. Resolvers continuously monitor the auction with the objective of filling the order as soon as the price meets their profit target while still providing users with favorable rates. The first resolver to accept the terms wins the auction and locks your tokens into a secure escrow contract deployed on the source chain.

Simultaneously, the winning resolver locks the equivalent target-chain tokens (sourced from their own liquidity reserves) into a second escrow contract on the destination chain. Both escrow contracts utilize a shared secret hash and a timelock mechanism to ensure coordinated, atomic execution.

Once both escrow contracts are confirmed and validated, the "secret" is revealed through the protocol, which allows the resolver to claim the tokens on one chain and simultaneously send you the tokens on the destination chain. The entire process is carefully coordinated to complete securely and atomically, eliminating counterparty risk.

Timelock and Safety

If something goes wrong during the swap process — for instance, if the resolver fails to deliver the destination tokens or encounters technical issues — the swap cancels automatically after a predetermined time window expires.

Funds are automatically returned to the original owners on both chains, ensuring no party loses their assets. Resolvers also post a security deposit that they forfeit if they fail to follow through with their commitments. This economic mechanism strongly incentivizes proper behavior and protects users from incomplete or failed swaps.

Fusion+ brings the proven reliability of atomic swaps into a user-friendly format, offering the same trustless guarantees associated with traditional atomic swaps but through an accessible DeFi interface that any user can utilize without technical expertise.

Why Fusion+ Can Be a Game-Changer

With Fusion+, 1inch delivers a genuinely unique and practical feature in the DeFi ecosystem: cross-chain swaps that are simultaneously secure, decentralized, and require no bridge protocols.

The process is remarkably simple — no juggling multiple applications, no managing gas tokens on multiple chains, and no exposure to bridge vulnerabilities that have resulted in billions in losses across the industry. For instance, swapping tokens from Ethereum to Polygon using Fusion+ is demonstrably faster, safer, and more cost-effective than using a traditional bridge protocol. You don't pay gas fees on the source chain because resolvers handle gas costs on both ends of the transaction. This makes cross-chain trading as straightforward as a standard single-chain token swap.

To summarize, Fusion+ represents a major advancement in multi-chain DeFi infrastructure by completely removing reliance on custodial intermediaries and integrating atomic security guarantees directly into the user experience.

Fusion+ remains under the radar for many users, yet it fundamentally redefines what cross-chain trading can — and should — look like: trustless, gasless, and bridge-free.

1inch Security: What Protects You While Swapping

The platform implements a comprehensive security stack designed to protect users from scams, hacks, and fraudulent activity at every step of the trading process. This multi-layered approach spans everything from rigorous smart contract audits to real-time address screening and transaction monitoring.

Here are the key layers of protection 1inch offers:

• Blocklist Strategy: 1inch continuously screens wallet addresses for risk indicators, utilizing data from TRM Labs, Etherscan, and its own dedicated investigation team. Suspicious wallets are blocked automatically before they can interact with the protocol.
• Transaction Simulations: The wallet shows you exactly what will happen before you sign any trade. You see precisely what tokens leave your wallet, what comes in, and can identify if anything looks suspicious or unexpected.
• Scam Protection: 1inch has partnered with leading security platforms like Blockaid to detect various threats including malicious transactions, suspicious DApps, scam domains, and phishing attempts. You'll receive a clear alert before connecting to anything flagged as potentially unsafe.
• Smart Contract Audits: Every smart contract used by 1inch has been audited multiple times by reputable security firms. Additionally, they are non-upgradable, meaning no surprise code changes can be introduced that might compromise security.
• Front-Running Protection: Fusion and Fusion+ prevent bots from manipulating your trade by keeping your order private until it's executed, eliminating MEV attack vectors.
• AML Compliance: Resolvers must pass rigorous KYC checks before being permitted to operate on the network. Transactions are also screened for links to money laundering, scams, or hacked funds.
• Brand Protection: 1inch actively removes fake websites and social media scams with assistance from Red Points and Phishfort. This ensures you stay protected even when interacting outside the DApp itself.

Additional Protection Layers on 1inch:

• Downtime Fallback: Fusion+ incorporates a built-in recovery phase for stalled swaps, ensuring funds can be recovered even in edge cases.
• MEV Resistance: Private order handling completely eliminates sandwich attacks and other MEV exploitation.
• Behavioral Risk Analysis: User actions are continuously monitored to detect signs of account compromise or suspicious activity patterns.

1inch Swap vs. Alternatives

Potential Drawbacks

While 1inch Swap comes packed with practical and efficient features, there are several potential drawbacks to consider depending on your specific use case and trading requirements:

• Delayed Execution in Fusion Mode: Because Fusion uses Dutch auctions and depends on resolver participation, your swap might not execute instantly. If you need immediate, guaranteed execution for time-sensitive trades, Classic mode may be a better choice.
• Limit Orders Depend on Taker Interest: Your limit order might not fill if it isn't profitable for resolvers or takers to execute, especially when trading low-liquidity token pairs or setting prices far from market rates.
• Gas Fees in Classic Mode: If you choose to use Classic swaps instead of Fusion, you still need to hold native tokens like ETH or MATIC to cover gas fees, which can be substantial during network congestion.
• Cross-Chain Swaps Are Resolver-Dependent: Fusion+ relies on resolvers to complete cross-chain swaps. While protected by escrow mechanisms and recovery protocols, execution is not as instant as native single-chain swaps.
• Complexity for New Users: Advanced settings, multiple presets, and auction mechanics can feel overwhelming if you are accustomed to simpler DEX interfaces with fewer options.

Is 1inch Swap the Right Fit for You?

As you can see, 1inch Swap offers substantially more than basic DEX aggregator functionality. If you are an active trader managing assets across multiple chains and seeking to optimize execution quality while minimizing costs, it can serve as a strong alternative to simpler platforms.

That said, the multiple modes and advanced configuration options may feel unnecessarily complex for some beginners who may prefer more straightforward tools for basic swap operations. Additionally, Fusion mode's reliance on resolvers introduces timing and pricing trade-offs that may not suit all trading scenarios. Overall, whether 1inch Swap suits your specific needs ultimately depends on how actively you trade, how much control you want over execution parameters, and whether you prioritize gas savings and MEV protection over instant execution guarantees.

FAQ

What is 1inch and how does it work?

1inch is a decentralized exchange aggregator that scans multiple DEXs to find the best prices and lowest trading fees for crypto swaps. It uses the 1INCH token for governance and liquidity incentives, optimizing trading routes to maximize user returns.

How to swap tokens on 1inch?

Select 1inch as your swap provider, review the quote details, click 'Swap with 1inch' button. If needed, approve the token spending. Confirm the transaction and complete the swap within seconds with best rates.

What are 1inch's advantages compared to other DEXs such as Uniswap?

1inch uses a DEX aggregator model that pools liquidity from multiple DEXs to offer better swap prices and lower slippage. This provides users with more competitive rates and superior trading experience compared to traditional single DEXs.

How does 1inch's smart routing feature help get better prices?

1inch's smart routing aggregates liquidity from multiple DEXs and compares exchange rates and fees across platforms to secure optimal trading prices for users.

How to minimize slippage when using 1inch swap?

Select trading pairs with high liquidity and check estimated prices multiple times before submitting transactions. 1inch's algorithm optimization and market liquidity depth are key factors in minimizing slippage.

What fees do I need to pay for 1inch swaps?

1inch swap fees typically include network gas fees and a protocol fee of up to 0.05%. The exact amount depends on network congestion and transaction size. Gas fees vary by blockchain and current network conditions.

Using 1inch Swap, what security risks should I pay attention to?

When using 1inch Swap, be aware of potential risks from lack of regulation. While security measures are in place, absolute safety cannot be guaranteed. Always use the official website to prevent fraud and verify smart contract addresses before transactions.

Which blockchain networks and trading pairs does 1inch support?

1inch supports multiple blockchain networks including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Binance Smart Chain. It aggregates liquidity across various DEXs on these chains, offering access to thousands of trading pairs with optimized swap routes for the best exchange rates.