What it is
StellarX is the first trading app for Stellar’s universal marketplace, and aims to not only be user friendly but highly effective. StellarX is simply a third-party client built on top of the Stellar network.
Unlike other exchanges such as Coinbase, StellarX doesn’t actually hold your assets or private keys, as there are other wallets linked to the marketplace, allowing it to be decentralised.
As it is universal, you can swap nearly any asset for another one. I myself have swapped AQUA for USDC and then to a Brazilian stablecoin.
The best part about it is because on the Stellar network the fees are so low, you have no trading costs. This allows for near frictionless trading where as long as the spreads are good, you can generate trading returns off tiny changes in prices.
Lumens
Similar to most networks, Stellar has native tokens, and there is also the network token which is Lumens. Lumens can be bought on nearly every single exchange, and at the time of writing the market cap is in excess of $1 billion.
The lumens act as the medium of exchange in the marketplace, with every asset being able to be seamlessly converted into them. Lumens are also able to be sent around the world quickly and cheaply, making it a potential global coin.
Marketplace
StellarX’s marketplace is sleek and modern, showing you the necessary information all on one page. While to some it may look more complex than an interface such as Coinbase’s, once you become accustomed to it, the experience truly is user friendly.
Apart from this, the range of available pairs is just incredible. While there are some pairs that have a miniscule amount of volume, most of the relevant ones have volume in excess of 100k. Unless your name is Elon Musk, I believe that there should be an ample amount of volume present to fulfill your trades without the spread impacting your profits.
Personal Opinion
While Stellarx is no longer my main marketplace, when I used it I had no reason to not like it. With the recent AQUA drops, I may even begin to use it again purely for the ease of use (there you go everyone, a 101 in incentives working as intended).
For the more savvy traders out there, there is also a lot of great opportunities to implement some arbitrage strategies. As there are so many pairs, especially pairs based around backed stablecoins, there is generally some price convergence. With the low trading costs, there is a profit to be made. I was doing this over a year ago, so am unsure if it would still work. Could make for an interesting little experiment though.
For those who are concerned about the safety of the site, although I can’t give any 100% guarantees, based on my personal experience and the longevity of the site, I believe it’s integrity can be trusted.
Let me know what you think of StellarX in the comments, would love to learn more.
James Clarke