Clipper vs 0x

ETH <> USDC Price Sampling Study

Overview

Shipyard Software conducted a comprehensive quote comparison study to assess Clipper’s price performance for the traded pair ETH<>USDC.

​

0x, a software provider that aggregates and compares prices for crypto swaps, has a publicly accessible API. 0x is not integrated with Clipper, offering a neutral 1:1 comparison for price performance.

​

The study was conducted over two weeks - from 26-Aug to 08-Sep - with data collected from 0x and Clipper’s APIs at 15-minute intervals.

​

In total, the team analyzed 21,503 transactions.

Results

For the traded pair ETH <> USDC Clipper consistently outperformed the publicly available 0x API.

Clipper had the better price on both legs of the trade 94.2% of the time.

​

​

Clipper won one leg of the trade 5.6% of the time.

​

​

Clipper lost both legs of the trade 0.2% of the time.

0.2%

Key Findings

​

1. Clipper Dominated: Clipper outperformed 0x for each leg of the transaction USDC > ETH and ETH > USDC. Winning for both legs 94% of the time.
2. Clipper has a material advantage even without its gas delta: Shipyard Software considered whether Clipper would win a transaction without its Gas Delta. Accounting for the gas delta, Clipper won swaps by an even wider margin and marginally improved the number of swaps it won.
3. Stochastic Exceptions: Clipper losses can occur for many reasons, commonly when other DEXs are offering below-market prices that likely lose money for LPs. Further investigation is required to validate.

0x Enterprise API

0x has two versions of its API – the free version and its Enterprise version. Comparing Clipper to the 0x Enterprise API resulted in closer performance between the two protocols.

Enterprise API Comparison Findings

1. Clipper still won at least one leg of the transaction most of the time: Clipper’s win rate on both legs of the transaction was over 50%. Clipper also lost both legs of the transaction fewer times (43 vs 6).
2. ETH > USDC Performance: Clipper dominated for the USDC > ETH leg of transactions compared to 0x Enterprise API. However, Clipper’s win rate for ETH > USDC fell 47 points. Shipyard Software is conducting a follow-up study to analyze factors driving this divergence on one leg of the traded pair.

Clipper Performance vs 0x APIs

0x Free API

($10K USDC<>ETH Trade)

0x Enterprise API

($10K USDC<>ETH Trade)

Clipper wins ETH > USDC

Clipper wins USDC > ETH

Clipper wins one leg

Clipper wins both legs

Methodology

Performance was measured directly through calls to the Clipper and 0x APIs.

Raw data is available here.

​

1. Fetch Real-Time Data: The research team obtained current Ethereum (ETH) prices (denoted as 'e') and fast gas prices (denoted as 'g') to establish a baseline for the analysis.
2. Calculate Effective Swap Return: The effective swap return, factoring in a 20,000 gas difference, was calculated for both USDC and ETH to assess transaction costs.
1. In USDC: Effective cost = g / 50
2. In ETH: Effective cost = g / (50 * e)
3. Compare USDC -> ETH Swaps
• Fetch 10,000 USDC → ETH swap value from 0x API
• Fetch 10,000 USDC → ETH swap value from Clipper API
• Compare Clipper’s return value with and without the ETH gas delta calculated above (i.e., add the ETH gas delta value to Clipper’s ETH return).

4.    Compare ETH -> USDC Swaps

• Get $10,000 in ETH: 10,000/e.
• Fetch 10,000/e ETH → USDC swap value from 0x API
• Fetch 10,000/e ETH → USDC swap value from Clipper API