Paraswap

Paraswap, now Velora, lets you inspect a Market quote without sending tokens

Paraswap, now Velora, lets you request a Market swap quote without transferring tokens or granting a token allowance. A quote describes a possible route and expected output on the selected chain. It does not reserve that price or execute the swap. For a first session, a useful stopping point is understanding the proposed trade, its gas estimate and its execution mode. Approval, order signing and transaction submission belong to later decisions.

The Inputs That Shape a First Market Quote

A Market request combines the selected chain, source token, destination token and trade amount to price a possible swap. The chain determines which liquidity the aggregator searches. Token addresses identify the assets on that network, while decimal precision gives meaning to their raw amounts. The request also specifies its trade direction as SELL or BUY . SELL uses the source token’s raw amount; BUY uses the destination token’s raw amount. These inputs describe the proposed trade; entering them does not authorize a contract to spend a balance.

Direct Market pricing uses a network parameter for the chain. Automatic pricing uses chainId and can consider another execution path. Trade direction also matters when comparing responses for the same assets and amount. A wallet address can accompany the request, without turning price discovery into a token approval.

The Returned Mode Defines the Execution Path

Market proposes a route that the user would later execute through an on-chain transaction. Delta prices an intent, a signed instruction that specifies the desired trade. Portikus solvers compete to fulfill that instruction through protocol settlement. Both paths begin with pricing, although the later authorization and execution differ. An automatically selected Market response therefore describes a wallet-submitted swap, even if the request also allowed Delta. The returned path determines which costs and permissions matter next.

Market execution requires network gas when the user submits the transaction. Delta handles settlement costs within its execution flow. Preparatory actions have their own requirements: an ERC-20 approval can cost gas, and a native-source Delta order can require a paid deposit. Those conditions affect proceeding with a trade. They do not require funding an order merely to inspect its quote.

Does Getting a Quote Authorize Token Spending?

A Market quote request does not authorize token spending; an approval or supported permit supplies that permission when a trade proceeds. Token approval names a contract that may spend a specified token amount. A permit can express spending permission through a signature, where the token and execution path support it. Reading a price response requires neither action. A wallet prompt asking for spending permission introduces a separate decision, even if an interface presents it alongside the quote.

What Does the Quoted Output Actually Mean?

For a SELL quote, Market estimates the destination amount that its proposed route will deliver under the request’s pricing conditions. A BUY quote fixes the destination amount and estimates the source amount required. A Market priceRoute carries no commitment to the execution price. A later SELL swap enforces a minimum destination amount; a BUY swap caps the source amount spent for its fixed destination amount. The quoted estimate and the corresponding execution limit answer different questions: one describes the proposed exchange, while the other limits what the transaction may accept.

Integrator fees can affect the displayed quote. Where a partner fee applies, the API accepts it during pricing so the quote reflects it. The quote therefore belongs to the integration and parameters that produced it. A number copied from another interface may describe different fee settings or another execution path. Comparing those numbers without their settings can give a misleading impression of the same trade.

The gas estimate describes the proposed route’s execution cost, rather than an amount that the quote request has charged. It helps explain the cost of proceeding with Market execution. Expected token output and estimated network gas represent different quantities, so their units matter. A token amount alone does not establish the total cost of completing the trade, and an estimated gas value does not establish the eventual charge.

A successful price response does not establish that the source token’s allowance is sufficient for execution.

Quote Freshness Before a Later Swap

Market pricing can age quickly as liquidity and asset prices change. A saved response records the proposal returned for its request, including that route’s amounts and cost estimates. A later response may differ even when the request uses the same assets and amount. Keeping an old quote visible does not preserve the market conditions that produced it.

Slippage tolerance belongs to the later transaction’s acceptance condition. It limits what that transaction may accept during execution; it does not refresh the earlier price request. Quote freshness and slippage therefore address separate parts of the trade.

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Can I Preview a Crosschain Swap the Same Way?

A crosschain preview uses Delta pricing with a destination chain, while direct Market pricing covers a swap on one chain. The crosschain quote includes a supported bridge route, its fees and an estimated delivery time. Available alternatives can differ in output, fees or timing. Those values describe the selected route, and bridge availability can change. A destination-chain parameter alone does not establish that the requested pair has a supported bridge path.

Destination delivery follows source-chain settlement asynchronously. An order can remain BRIDGING before reaching COMPLETED . The later order status establishes completion; the earlier pricing response does not.

API Fields That Separate Pricing From Execution

API response fields distinguish a routing proposal from data prepared for a transaction.

Direct Market Calls

The Quote Response

The direct Market price endpoint returns a priceRoute . Its destination amount and gas estimate describe the proposal. The route object belongs to that quote; transaction construction expects the full object unchanged. Editing its fields can make the build request reject it.

The Build Response

The Market build operation returns transaction data, including the target contract, encoded call and any native-token value. Building this data neither signs nor broadcasts it. The wallet submits the transaction later; the swap completes only if that transaction succeeds on-chain.

Automatic Mode Selection

The automatic quote endpoint accepts DELTA , MARKET or ALL . An ALL response contains either a delta block or a market block, never both. An integration must follow the returned block when choosing its next operation. The requested mode alone cannot tell it which path won. A fallback explanation can identify why the API skipped Delta, without establishing that any trade has begun.

Leaving the Session Before an Authorization

A quote-only session can finish with the displayed route; the price request creates no order to cancel.

Stopping after an authorization has a different consequence. A confirmed on-chain approval leaves a token allowance in place even when no swap follows. A signed permit also grants permission within its specified conditions. To finish the preview without granting new spending rights, leave approval and permit prompts unsigned. Closing the quote at that point leaves the proposed trade unexecuted.