Ledger Live: Introducing Floating Swap Rate

Disclaimer: The swap service is operated by our partner Changelly. If you encounter any transaction related issues, please reach out to Changelly. 

Ledger introduces floating rates to its swap options.Therefore, providing you with the option to swap with fixed rates (guaranteed price, higher fees) or floating rates (variable price, lower fees). Freedom to you! 

Swap Basics

In crypto slang, to swap is to use a certain cryptocurrency to acquire another one. It is also possible to define a swap as the action of buying crypto with crypto without the need for fiat currencies.

For instance, you have the ability to swap Bitcoin for Ethereum in Ledger live. The process is similar to changing your dollars for another currency through an exchange office, in that case our partner Changelly. 

Swapping has various use cases, the most prominent ones being:

• An option to hedge yourself against volatility, by swapping a certain asset for a stablecoin. 
• Diversifying your portfolio without having to use fiat currencies. You can expand your set of assets by swapping an amount of your holdings to acquire new crypto. 

The benefit of swapping with Ledger is that you remain in complete control of your crypto while making the swaps you want. When swapping through Ledger Live with our partner, you truly own your private keys and therefore your coins. Your keys are completely offline, out of reach for hackers.

If you want to find out more about swapping check out this article, which will enable you to get off on the right foot.

Floating Swap Rate vs. Fixed Swap Rate

Until now, the swap feature through the Ledger Live app had to be done with a fixed rate guaranteed by our partner Changelly. Meaning that a user would know in advance the amount they were going to receive from a given transaction.

At the moment of swapping, If you validate the trade within 1 minute, the price will be guaranteed for the next 15 minutes and you will receive what you see. No surprise.

However, an unintended consequence often occurs. Swap fees increase because our partner needs to partially compensate for the price variations, in order to guarantee the fixed price. Sometimes causing ambiguity. 

To correct this, and provide our users with more flexibility, we are launching a floating rate option. With a floating rate, the transaction’s outcome will depend on the asset(s) price at the moment of validation. In other words, the swap rate will depend on the market price at the time of the swap.

For instance, if you order a swap of a specific amount of Bitcoin for Ethereum at a given rate. And the prices vary before the order get’s validated, your initial rate will consequently increase or decrease. As the price is not guaranteed, this swap option offers lower fees.

Moreover, the floating rate enables swapping up to about 5 million $ per transaction, while the fixed rate is only limited to about 50k $ per transaction depending on the pair. 

You now have the freedom of choice, whichever option you opt for, take the time to inform yourself and choose wisely!

 If you want to find out how to use swap with Ledger, click here.

Looking ahead

Alongside the swap feature, Ledger grants you access to a variety of different services such as; buying, staking, selling, swapping or even lending. All made easy through Ledger live and protected by your hardware wallet. This is just the tip of the iceberg, in 2021 we will go above and beyond to provide you with a unique Ledger experience. Stay tuned!