Phoenix

Phoenix is a decentralized exchange built from the ground up on Solana that uses a fully on-chain central limit order book (CLOB) rather than the automated market maker (AMM) model used by most DEXs. This architectural choice gives Phoenix the trading experience of a centralized exchange — with limit orders, market orders, and real-time order matching — while maintaining the transparency, self-custody, and censorship resistance of decentralized finance. Unlike AMM-based DEXs like Raydium or Orca where liquidity providers deposit assets into pools, Phoenix lets market makers place precise limit orders at specific price levels, just like on Binance or Coinbase. This results in tighter spreads, more efficient price discovery, and zero impermanent loss for market makers. The order book is fully on-chain, meaning every order placement, cancellation, and fill is a verifiable Solana transaction. Phoenix leverages Solana's sub-second finality and low transaction costs to make on-chain order book trading viable — something that was previously impossible on slower, more expensive chains. The protocol processes order matching in a single transaction, ensuring atomic execution without the risk of partial fills or front-running that plagues off-chain order books. The protocol has become a core piece of Solana's DeFi infrastructure, with major aggregators like Jupiter routing trades through Phoenix when it offers the best price. Phoenix markets are permissionless — anyone can create a new market for any SPL token pair. The protocol is fully open-source and maintained by Ellipsis Labs, backed by prominent crypto investors. Phoenix's on-chain order book also serves as a transparent price oracle that other protocols can reference, adding composability to Solana's DeFi ecosystem. Professional market makers and trading firms are increasingly using Phoenix as their primary Solana venue due to the familiar order book model and the ability to deploy sophisticated trading strategies that aren't possible on AMMs. For traders, Phoenix offers a professional-grade trading interface with depth charts, order history, and real-time trade feeds. The combination of CEX-like functionality with DeFi's trustless properties makes Phoenix a compelling choice for both retail and institutional traders who want on-chain execution without sacrificing the trading tools they're accustomed to.