Stellar Decentralized Exchange: security, fees and reviews
Decentralized exchange
In short
- Fees
- Spot maker: No exchange fee on order-book offers; each operation pays a network fee of at least 100 stroops (0.00001 XLM)
- Risks and caveats
- Assets traded on the SDEX are issued by third parties; the protocol does not vouch for issuers, and buying an asset requires trusting its issuer.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Type
- Decentralized exchange
- Exchange launched
- 2014
- Official site
- developers.stellar.org/docs/learn/fundamentals/liquidity-on-stellar-sdex-liquidity-pools
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Stellar Decentralized Exchange
The Stellar Decentralized Exchange (SDEX) is the order-book exchange built into the Stellar network protocol. Any account can place buy and sell offers between Stellar assets, and path payments route conversions through the SDEX order books and, since Protocol 18, built-in liquidity pools (AMMs).
Good to know
- The SDEX is part of the Stellar protocol itself, not a company: there is no operator, sign-up or custody; users trade from their own Stellar accounts. ↗
- To place an offer, an account must hold the asset it sells and hold a trustline to the issuer of the asset it buys. ↗
- Path payments convert one asset into another on the way to the recipient by crossing the SDEX and/or liquidity pools, and can fail if no viable path exists. ↗
- The order price is separate from the network fee: fees are always paid in XLM. ↗
- Stellar's built-in AMM liquidity pools charge 0.30% on every trade; the fee goes to liquidity providers. ↗
Services
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Path payments | A payment can be sent in one asset and received in another: path payments cross the SDEX order books and/or liquidity pools before arriving at the destination account, and fail if no exchange path exists. |
| Spot trading | On-chain order books for any pair of Stellar assets, using Manage Buy Offer, Manage Sell Offer and Passive Order operations. |
| Custody / wallet | Non-custodial: offers are obligations stored in the trader's own account or trustline. |
| Own blockchain | Runs on the Stellar network; lumens (XLM) are the native asset used for fees. |
Security and audits
- Trades settle on the Stellar ledger; the SDEX holds no user funds of its own.
- Path payments can set a minimum received amount so an unfavourable conversion fails instead of executing.
- SDF reported a 67-minute network halt on 15 May 2019 and an SDF-validator outage on 6 April 2021 during which the network kept running.
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 15 May 2019 | Network halt: The Stellar network, on which the SDEX runs, halted for 67 minutes because validators could not reach consensus; no ledgers closed and no transactions were processed. SDF said ledger state stayed consistent. Funds returned: SDF stated that no one lost money and no balances were affected by a fork. | stellar.org |
| 6 April 2021 | Outage: SDF's validator nodes and its public Horizon API instance went down for several hours; the network itself kept processing transactions. | stellar.org |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Fees
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Spot maker | No exchange fee on order-book offers; each operation pays a network fee of at least 100 stroops (0.00001 XLM) |
| Spot taker | 0.30% when the trade executes against a built-in liquidity pool, plus the network fee |
Who can use it
- Verification: No KYC at protocol level; issuers of individual assets may require authorisation of trustlines.
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 15 May 2019 | The Stellar network halts for 67 minutes after failing to reach consensus; no ledgers close and no transactions are processed. |
| 6 April 2021 | SDF's validator nodes stop validating for several hours; the network keeps processing transactions. |
| 25 June 2021 | The proposal to add automated market makers alongside the SDEX in Protocol 18 is deemed ready for implementation. |
Risks and caveats
- Assets traded on the SDEX are issued by third parties; the protocol does not vouch for issuers, and buying an asset requires trusting its issuer.
- Low-liquidity order books can be thin or empty, and path payments fail if no viable path exists.
- The network halted once, for 67 minutes on 15 May 2019, according to SDF.
About the company
- Developer
- Stellar Development Foundation (nonprofit) develops the Stellar protocol
Official links
- Website: stellar.org
- Fees: developers.stellar.org/docs/learn/fundamentals/fees-resource-limits-metering
- Blog: stellar.org/blog
Questions and answers
What is the Stellar Decentralized Exchange?
It is the order-book exchange built into the Stellar protocol; accounts trade Stellar assets directly on the ledger, and path payments route conversions through it.
Who runs the SDEX?
No company operates it: it is a protocol feature of the Stellar network, which is developed by the nonprofit Stellar Development Foundation.
What are the SDEX fees?
Order-book offers pay only the network fee, at least 100 stroops per operation in XLM; trades against built-in liquidity pools pay 0.30%.
Has the Stellar network ever stopped?
Yes. SDF reported that on 15 May 2019 the network halted for 67 minutes; no funds were lost.
Sources
- Stellar Docs - Liquidity on Stellar: SDEX & Liquidity Pools
- Stellar Docs - Path Payments
- Stellar Docs - Fees
- Stellar Docs - Lumens
- SDF - Introducing AMMs on Stellar
- SDF - May 15th Network Halt
- SDF - Statement on Halted SDF Validators
- SDF - Foundation
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