About CoW Protocol

CoW Protocol is a permissionless trading system that uses Batch Auctions as the main method for pricing. It allows batch auctions to increase liquidity through Coincidence of Wants (CoWs) and taps into all available on-chain liquidity when needed. Batch Auctions are run continuously, with solvers competing to find the most optimal settlement for each batch. The solver that maximizes traders' surplus—by finding the best CoW, accessing the best liquidity sources, or combining both—wins. CoWs are settlements that share liquidity across orders with matching limit prices. Unlike AMMs or CLOBs, CoW Protocol relies on batch auctions to facilitate CoWs, which leads to better prices for traders and reduces gas and liquidity provider fees. Additionally, batch auctions' uniform clearing prices and th...