# Acala DEX Trading volume Methodology

## 1. Overview

Trading volume is measured as the total value of trades executed on a decentralized spot exchange. This metric reflects the liquidity and usage of Acala DEX and is used to assess the protocol's capacity to generate fees and revenue from trading activity. Values are calculated by capturing swap events and normalizing the value of assets exchanged into USD.

## 2. Data sources

- **Blockchain events**: `Swap` events from the `dex` pallet, along with staking and issuance data from the `homa` and `tokens` pallets on Acala Substrate
- **External data**: End-of-day price feeds and asset metadata

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: Acala DEX swap extraction

- **Purpose**: Captures individual trade records from the Acala DEX.
- **Logic**: `Swap` events are parsed from the `dex` pallet on Acala Substrate. For each successful trade, the account address of the trader, the input asset, the output asset, and the respective trade amounts are extracted. Asset identifiers are mapped to canonical metadata to determine the correct decimal precision for each asset, including native tokens, foreign assets, and ERC-20 tokens.
- **Key fields**: `amount_in`, `amount_out`, `token_in`, `token_out`, `trader`

### Component B: LDOT valuation adjustment

- **Purpose**: Calculates the correct internal exchange rate for Liquid DOT (LDOT) to ensure trades are valued accurately.
- **Logic**: An exchange rate is derived by aggregating the total underlying DOT (the sum of bonded assets and assets pending bonding) and dividing it by the total LDOT supply (the sum of total issuance and voided liquid assets). Staking data is retrieved from the `homa` and `tokens` pallets. This resulting rate is applied to any trading volume involving LDOT to normalize its value relative to the underlying collateral before USD conversion.
- **Key fields**: `total_staking_bonded`, `to_bond_pool`, `total_issuance`, `total_void_liquid`

### Component C: USD conversion and volume aggregation

- **Purpose**: Normalizes all trading activity into a unified USD value and aggregates the data.
- **Logic**: All trade amounts are normalized by their respective decimal precision. Input and output amounts are multiplied by end-of-day price feeds for their specific assets. Total trading volume for a given transaction is determined by the USD value of the swapped assets. The values are then aggregated to a daily granularity using UTC day boundaries.
- **Key fields**: `trading_volume`, `price_usd`, `timestamp`

*This methodology was automatically generated by Token Terminal's methodology analyzer.*

Total value of spot trades executed on the exchange.

Trading volume

Exchanges (DEX)

Collators aggregate parachain transactions block candidates and producing state transition proofs for validators based on those blocks.

Acala is a specialized stablecoin and liquidity blockchain powered by Polkadot Relay chain.

ACA holders own and govern the protocol. Acala’s investors include Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Polychain Capital.

Acala DEX

Archived

Trading volume

Trading volume

Chain breakdown