Best Execution Is Not the Best Headline Rate

Quick answer

The biggest number on a quote screen is the headline rate. It is not always what ends up in your wallet. What counts is what you keep after gas.

RAVN asks every venue that can do your swap at once. We rank them on net output: what you receive after gas. When two are close, the faster one wins. So a venue can post the biggest number and still lose.

A bigger number that loses

Two quotes, same pair, same amount:

If A beats B by less than A's own gas bill, B leaves you with more. A sort by raw output picks A. We pick B.

What we rank on

• NetWhat you receive after estimated gas, plus approval when you need one.
• FloorYour slippage limit is a hard line. Quotes that break it never reach your screen.
• GaslessGets the edge only while it stays close on price. A gasless quote that pays much less still loses.
• SpeedWhen two routes pay about the same, the faster one wins.
• CanonicalYou get the real asset on the chain you picked, not a wrapped stand-in.

How one quote works

1. You ask for a pair, an amount and the chains.
2. We pick the venues that can do that route. Native BTC races Relay, NEAR Intents, THORChain, Chainflip and Rift. Solana can include Jupiter Ultra. One EVM chain can include 0x Gasless, Bebop and CoW.
3. We ask them all at once. If one fails, the others still answer.
4. Every answer gets the same shape: output, fees and how you settle.
5. We rank them. The winner is the quote you see, or the quoteToken an integrator passes to execute.

You pick the outcome. The router picks the venue.

How we count gas

We estimate the gas each quote costs you, plus approval when needed, and convert it into the token you are buying. Then we compare output minus cost.

• A gasless quote carries no swap gas. A rival that needs gas pays it in the comparison. A raw output sort misses that.
• If we cannot cost a quote honestly, we do not guess zero. That would favor the quotes whose costs we could not see, so ranking falls back instead.

We will not crown a route that loses to its own fees.

Gasless has to stay close

On-chain prices can move between quote and fill. RFQ market makers on one EVM chain (0x Gasless, Bebop, CoW) give you a firm price instead. You sign off-chain, and a solver pays the gas.

That still is not a free win. We compare the firm quote to the rival's guaranteed floor: the least that rival delivers after its own slippage. If the firm quote trails that floor by too much, the on-chain route wins.

Three ways to settle

• TXTRANSACTION: sign and send the transaction we return. Across, Relay, Mayan, Jupiter Ultra and others.
• SIGSIGNATURE: sign a message, and RAVN submits it. 0x Gasless, Bebop and CoW.
• DEPDEPOSIT: send your coins to an address the venue gives you. NEAR Intents, and swaps that start from native BTC.

The ranking comes first. The type only tells you what to sign or send.

What it does not promise

• Not the mid-market price. Depth, inventory and venue coverage set the real range.
• Not gasless everywhere. Only RFQ routes that settle by signature skip swap gas. Deposit and on-chain routes pay network fees. We add no gas markup.
• Not zero slippage everywhere. Firm RFQ quotes do not slip. Other routes can.
• Not custody. RAVN never holds your funds. Settlement stays on the venue.

Using it as a trader or builder

• Traders: Look at what you receive, not just the big number. Re-quote if the market moved or the quote expired.
• Integrators: Call POST /quote, pass the quoteToken to execute, and branch on executionType. The alternatives field shows the routes that lost, with their output and time. Do not re-sort by raw output, or you undo the ranking.
• Both: Native BTC and wrapped BTC are different products. Our native BTC guide explains why.