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Find answers to common questions about trading, providing liquidity, creating pools, and using Orca.

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About Orca

Orca is a decentralized exchange, or DEX, on Solana.Orca is built by DeFi OGs and provides tools for swapping supported tokens, creating and managing liquidity positions, launching pools, and building with Orca’s liquidity infrastructure.
Traditional order book exchanges, or CLOBs, match buyers and sellers based on price.AMMs and CLMMs let users trade against liquidity pools rather than directly with other users. Orca uses concentrated liquidity pools, or CLMMs, which let liquidity providers allocate liquidity within selected price ranges.
Solana is designed for high-throughput, low-cost transactions. Orca is built on Solana to support onchain swaps, liquidity provision, pool creation, and developer integrations.
Yes. Orca’s Whirlpools concentrated liquidity product is double audited, and amendments are also audited.Audits reduce risk but do not eliminate smart contract risk, wallet risk, token risk, phishing risk, or user error.
Yes. The ORCA governance token launched on August 9, 2021. See Token Treasury for details and Governance for the governance process.

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Trading

See supported wallets. Orca integrates wallets that support Solana program execution.
Orca does not endorse or guarantee the security of compatible wallets. Review wallet providers carefully before using any wallet.
Yes. You can use Orca with mobile-compatible wallets listed in the wallets guide.
Fees may include trading fees, Solana network fees, priority fees, and any route-specific costs.Orca does not charge an additional interface fee for standard swaps. See Trading Fees for details.
Price impact is the estimated effect of your trade size on the quoted rate.Larger trades or lower-liquidity routes may have higher price impact. If your trade has high price impact, Orca may show a warning before you submit.
Common causes include:
  • Slippage setting too low — The price moved beyond your slippage setting before execution
  • Insufficient SOL — Your wallet did not have enough SOL for network fees or required account costs
  • Price moved — The quote changed before the transaction confirmed
  • Route unavailable — The selected route or pool conditions changed before execution
  • Network conditions — Congestion or RPC issues may affect transaction confirmation
Review the updated quote, route source, price impact, fees, and slippage setting before trying again.
These values reflect the transaction limits created by your slippage setting.If actual execution would exceed those limits, the transaction should fail rather than execute outside the accepted range.
A sub-route is one part of a swap route.Some swaps may use more than one pool or route path, such as ORCA → SOL → USDC. You can review route composition in the details dropdown before submitting.
Orca lets users choose how to route swaps, including routing directly through Orca pools or using supported third-party aggregators such as Titan, Jupiter, and DFlow.The selected route source is shown in the swap panel before you submit a transaction.
Titan is selected by default where aggregator routing is available.You can change the selected route source before swapping by clicking the route shown in the swap panel.
If routing directly through Orca pools returns a higher quoted output than the selected aggregator route, the displayed quote may use Orca routing instead.When this happens, Orca shows the route source before you submit. Review the quoted output, price impact, fees, slippage setting, and route source before approving.
No. Orca does not guarantee the best price, best route, lowest fees, lowest slippage, highest output, or transaction success.Orca displays the quoted output, route source, price impact, fees, and slippage setting so you can review the swap before submitting.
Orca may support swaps through third-party aggregators where routes are available. This means some swaps may use liquidity outside Orca pools.Route availability depends on the selected token pair, supported aggregators, liquidity, fees, and market conditions.
Yes. Use the TypeScript SDK. See Developer Docs for guidance.

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Autoswap

Autoswap lets you swap and deposit in a single flow when creating or adding to a liquidity position.When enabled, Autoswap can swap tokens at deposit time to help match the required deposit ratio for your selected position. The resulting tokens are then deposited into the position as part of the deposit flow.
No. You can turn Autoswap off and deposit manually.
Autoswap currently supports Titan, DFlow, and Jupiter. You can also choose Orca routing to route directly through Orca pools.
Titan is selected by default where Autoswap routing is available.You can change the selected route source before submitting the deposit.
If routing directly through Orca pools returns a higher quoted output than the selected aggregator route, the displayed quote may use Orca routing instead.Orca shows the route source before you submit. Review the quoted output, price impact, fees, slippage setting, and final deposit amounts before approving.
Small residual amounts can remain after a swap due to price movement, rounding, deposit ratio requirements, or route execution.Any dust is returned to your wallet after the transaction completes.
Yes. Autoswap may fail if route availability, slippage, liquidity, price movement, transaction execution, or market conditions prevent the swap and deposit from completing.Review the quote, route source, price impact, fees, slippage setting, and final deposit amounts before approving.
Autoswap uses transactions that you review and approve in your wallet. However, no transaction is risk-free.Swap and deposit outcomes can be affected by slippage, liquidity, price movement, route availability, fees, transaction failure, and market conditions. Always review wallet prompts before signing.

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Slippage

Slippage is the difference between the quoted price and the execution price of a swap or liquidity action.Slippage can occur when prices, liquidity, or route conditions change between quote and execution.
For standard swaps, Orca uses a 0.5% default slippage setting unless changed by the user.The 0.5% default reflects a review of industry norms and observed user behavior under normal market conditions.
If slippage is set too tight, a transaction may fail if the price moves beyond the selected tolerance before execution.If slippage is set too loose, a transaction may execute farther from the quoted price than expected, up to the minimum received or maximum spent shown before submission.
Some Wavebreak or bonding-curve trades may use a different default slippage setting.For bonding-curve trades, Orca may use a 20% default slippage setting because liquidity conditions can differ from standard pool-based trades. Once a token graduates from the bonding curve, the default slippage setting normalizes to the standard trade default unless changed by the user.
Review the swap or liquidity details before submitting. The UI shows values such as quoted output, minimum received or maximum spent, price impact, fees, and slippage setting.Always review the wallet prompt before signing.

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Liquidity Provision

Liquidity providers may accrue trading fees when swaps use their active liquidity. Some pools may also offer token rewards.
When you provide liquidity in a pool, fees may accrue when swaps use your active liquidity.Accrued fees and rewards, where available, can be collected using Harvest Yield.
Divergence loss, also known as impermanent loss, describes the difference between providing liquidity and simply holding the deposited tokens as their relative prices change.See Impermanent Loss for details.
Liquidity positions generally do not have a lock-up period.You can submit a withdrawal transaction when liquidity is available, subject to wallet access, network conditions, transaction execution, and any relevant position settings.
The tokens you receive depend on your position composition at the time of withdrawal.In concentrated liquidity positions, token composition changes as price moves through the selected range. If the position is out of range, you may receive only one token from the position.
A position is out of range when the current pool price is outside your selected price range.While out of range, the position does not accrue swap fees and may become fully one-sided. If price later moves back into range, the position may begin accruing swap fees again when swaps use your liquidity.
Your liquidity position is represented by an NFT that identifies ownership of the position.This NFT:
  • Is required to access and manage the position
  • Can be transferred to move control of the position to another wallet
  • Should not be sold, transferred, or burned unless you intend to transfer ownership or permanently give up access to the position
The position NFT represents ownership of your liquidity position.If you sell or transfer the NFT, the receiving wallet controls the position. If you burn the NFT, you lose access to the position it represents, and Orca cannot recover the liquidity.
No. If a position NFT is burned, there is no way for Orca to recover the associated liquidity. The NFT represents ownership of the position onchain. Without it, the position cannot be accessed.
The deposit ratio depends on your selected price range relative to the current pool price.For in-range positions, the required token ratio changes based on where the current price sits within your range. If the current price is outside your selected range, the position may require only one token.
If price moves outside your selected range, your position stops accruing swap fees while out of range and may become fully one-sided.If price later moves back into your range, the position may begin accruing swap fees again when swaps use your liquidity. See Managing Your Portfolio.

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Rewards and Yield

Some pools may offer additional token rewards for eligible liquidity providers.Rewards depend on the pool’s reward configuration, position eligibility, liquidity, and timing. Rewards are not available on every pool and may change over time.
Some pools may offer ORCA token rewards. Pools with active rewards are marked in the Orca interface.Rewards are not available on every pool and may change over time.
Pool rewards are not always compounded automatically.Some rewards may need to be claimed or harvested separately, depending on the product, position type, and reward configuration.
Harvest Yield is the Orca UI function used to collect accrued fees and rewards from eligible liquidity positions.Harvesting requires a wallet transaction and may require network fees.
No. Estimated Yield is an informational display metric based on available data, such as recent trading activity, fee accrual, rewards, and selected position range.Actual results can differ due to price movement, trading volume, liquidity changes, reward changes, time in range, slippage, transaction costs, and market conditions.

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Position History and PnL

PnL stands for profit and loss. Orca displays PnL as an informational metric for supported active and closed positions.Orca PnL is not tax, accounting, or financial advice and may not include every factor relevant to your own records, such as external transfers, off-platform activity, taxes, slippage, priority fees, or other costs.
  • Realized PnL is PnL associated with completed actions, such as harvesting fees or closing part or all of a position.
  • Unrealized PnL is PnL for assets still inside an open position, including accrued but unharvested fees and rewards where available.
Yes. Accrued but unharvested fees and rewards are included where supported data is available.
PnL% is based on total lifetime deposits into a position.Withdrawals do not reduce the denominator. This keeps the displayed percentage calculation consistent over time and avoids distortions when liquidity is removed.
N/A appears when the required data is not available to calculate a value.This may happen if the position was opened before PnL tracking began, if the position was created or updated recently, or if price data is temporarily unavailable.
Position History and the Closed Positions tab only include supported data from January 2026 onward. Actions taken before that date will not appear because they predate when tracking began.

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Pool Creation

Orca does not charge a pool creation interface fee. Pool creation may require Solana network fees, account costs, and any applicable Metaplex-related costs.
Learn more: Adaptive Fees
New pools may take time to appear while indexing completes.Refresh the page and check that the pool creation transaction confirmed.
You cannot directly edit a pool price after creation. Pool price changes through trading activity and pool mechanics.If you need help understanding pool setup, contact Orca through the in-app Support widget.
No. Pools cannot be deleted after creation. Review all pool creation details carefully before confirming.
The warning triangle may appear when token display information has not been reviewed or listed.See Orca Token List for information about submitting token information for review.
Token Extensions are optional Token-2022 features that can change how a token behaves, including transfers, metadata, account states, fees, or permissions.See Token Extensions.

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Technical

SOL is required for Solana network fees and any required account costs.Keep SOL available in your wallet before submitting transactions. See Pool Network Fees.
Some liquidity actions may require initializing tick arrays or other onchain accounts. This can increase the transaction cost.These are Solana network or account costs, not Orca interface fees.
Some tokens may be wrapped from other chains.Always verify token mint addresses and understand the token you are interacting with before trading or providing liquidity.
Orca supports SPL tokens on Solana. To use assets from another chain, they must first be bridged or otherwise represented as SPL tokens.Review bridge risks and token mint addresses carefully before interacting with bridged assets.

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Security & Risks

Risks may include:
  • Smart contract risk — Orca’s Whirlpools contracts are audited, but audits do not eliminate all risk
  • Divergence loss — Liquidity positions may perform differently than simply holding the deposited tokens
  • Wallet risk — Wallet compromise, malicious approvals, phishing, or user error can result in loss
  • Token risk — Token prices, token behavior, or token permissions may change
  • Slippage and execution risk — Final transaction outcomes may differ from previews
  • Route risk — Selected routes, aggregators, or pool conditions may change before execution
Orca’s Whirlpools smart contracts are audited, and Orca has had no protocol-level smart contract exploits since launch.This does not remove the risks of using DeFi, including smart contract risk, wallet risk, token risk, slippage, phishing, or user error. Always review transaction details and protect your wallet.
No. Onchain transactions are generally irreversible once confirmed.Always verify URLs, wallet prompts, token mint addresses, and transaction details before signing.
No. Orca support will not DM you first on Discord, Telegram, X, or any other platform.Do not share seed phrases, private keys, or wallet credentials with anyone.

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More Help

In-App Support

Open the Support widget in the Orca UI for account-specific issues

Discord

Join the community on Discord

Telegram

Join the community on Telegram
Can’t find your answer? Use the Support button in the Orca UI for account-specific or sensitive issues.