Swap API is 4x faster with the Lightning Upgrade

0x Swap API just got a major upgrade. Lightning is now live for every integrator, and swaps on EVM chains are now four times faster at the median.

• Median response time decreased  to 80 ms
• The slowest 5% of requests got twice as fast
• Swaps on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) got 86% faster

Trades in the blink of an eye

With Lightning on 0x, a typical swap request now comes back in about 80 ms.

👉  Faster than the blink of an eye.

Over the past year, integrators have told us the same thing again and again: they want faster swaps. Major trading apps have told us the most important factor in their trading flow is the time it takes to get a quote.

For integrators serving high-frequency traders, like memecoin apps and launchpads, speed decides who wins the trade. Prices move in seconds, so the faster the swap, the closer users get to the price they clicked on.

Wallets and other everyday apps benefit too. When a user enters an amount, the price appears instantly instead of after a loading spinner. That smoother experience keeps users swapping in your app instead of going somewhere else.

It happens with Lightning on 0x.

How Lightning delivers 4x faster swaps

Lightning builds a map of the tokens, pools and liquidity on every chain we support. Pools are indexed as they’re created onchain and kept in a near-real-time liquidity graph, so when a quote comes in the router doesn’t have to go find liquidity, it already knows exactly where it is.

When a quote is submitted, a graph search traces the path from sell token to buy token through the exact pools and token pairs that will yield the best trade outcome. One strike, and the optimal route lights up.

Every quote starts with the same question: which pools could fill this trade? Lightning answers it before the request arrives.

Lightning build around two core components:

• A pool indexer that tracks new pools as they're created onchain. As soon as a pool exists it’s known to the router, and is able to factor it into the trade path.
• A liquidity graph, continuously rebuilt near real time so the router knows the depth of liquidity available in each pool and which token pairs can serve as connecting points.

Swap API now makes 50% fewer onchain data calls per request on Ethereum, BSC, Base, and Robinhood Chain, meaning faster quotes and trades for your users.

The numbers

Lightning is faster at p95 on every EVM chain. Median response time fell 76%, from 328 ms to 80 ms, and the slowest requests dropped by more than half, with p95 falling from 805 ms to 350 ms.

The biggest gains landed where most trading happens. These six chains carry 93% of 0x Swap API traffic:

Lightning in action

What Lightning's liquidity map brings to your app:‍

• ‍Faster than a blink: Median quote time down to 80 ms means your users spend less time waiting around and get value from your app faster.‍
• More of the market, routable instantly: Lightning picks up pools from the moment of their onchain creation events. This means new launchpad and memecoin tokens are instantly discoverable within the liquidity map and routable through your app.‍
• Depth, before you know you need it: The map already knows how deep each pool runs across a range of trade sizes. So 0x spends its effort on the pools that can fill the trade, and skips the ones that can't.‍
• Automatically detected pools: Lightning picks up pools from their onchain creation events. No lists to update. No manual step. Launchpads, memecoin apps and new chains get their liquidity into quotes on their own.

Already live in your app

Lightning is on by default for every 0x Swap API integrator. If you're integrated, your users are already getting faster swaps.

• Start building: create a free 0x account and get your API key.
• Read the docs: the Swap API guides cover every endpoint and parameter.
• Talk to the team: book a call to see what Lightning means for your app.

Updated Nov 4 2026 with more on what Lightning means for customers.