Cetus DEX: CLMM on Sui and Aptos
What Is Cetus?
Cetus is a decentralized exchange protocol built to run on the Sui and Aptos blockchains. By using a concentrated liquidity model, it aims to make trading more efficient and reduce wasted capital compared with traditional automated market makers. For traders and developers, that can mean lower slippage, better execution, and more flexible tools to design on-chain markets.
Core Features of Cetus
Permissionless Access to Create and Trade
Cetus is open to anyone. Users and applications can create pools, deploy liquidity positions, or integrate swapping features without needing special approvals. This lowers the barrier to entry and encourages new trading venues and services to appear quickly.
Programmable Pools for Advanced Strategies
The protocol supports programmable liquidity through a Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker model, letting users define narrower price ranges for their capital. That setup enables more sophisticated strategies similar to what you might find on centralized platforms, while still operating on-chain.
Composability and Liquidity as a Service
Cetus is designed to be integrated into other products. Developers can tap its liquidity for vaults, derivatives, or yield products, and quickly add swap interfaces to existing applications. This composable design speeds up product development across the ecosystem.
Token Model for Long-Term Participation
To support sustainability, Cetus uses a dual-token approach to align incentives over time. This model intends to reward contributors and active participants, helping the network maintain liquidity and governance engagement.
How Concentrated Liquidity Creates Efficiency
Traditional AMMs spread liquidity evenly across all prices, which often leaves most capital unused when prices stay within a tight range. In contrast, a CLMM allows liquidity providers to allocate funds to specific price bands where trading actually happens. Each allocation is treated as a position; funds earn fees only while the market price remains inside that position's range. If the price moves outside, that portion becomes inactive until the market returns, giving providers a way to focus capital where it generates returns.
Why Cetus Uses Sui and Aptos Blockchains
Cetus chose Sui and Aptos because both blockchains emphasize speed and scalability. Sui's architecture is optimized for fast transaction finality and low latency, useful for interactive trading experiences. Aptos aims for throughput and resilience as it grows, offering an environment where a high-performance DEX can serve many users without bottlenecks. Together they provide a technical foundation suited to on-chain order execution and programmable liquidity.
How Liquidity Providers Can Earn on Cetus
Providers on Cetus have several revenue paths:
- Transaction fees: Earned when active positions are used in trades, typically the primary income source for providers.
- Liquidity mining: Extra rewards distributed to certain pools or ranges, often represented by NFTs or on-chain records of positions.
- Loyalty incentives: Periodic programs such as lockups, leaderboards, or special rewards that benefit sustained participants.
Tokens Explained: CETUS and xCETUS
The protocol uses two complementary tokens. CETUS is the primary native token used within the network and for some ecosystem incentives. xCETUS represents staked CETUS and typically carries governance influence or other protocol-specific rights. Together they help coordinate rewards and decision making across the platform.
Final Thoughts
Cetus combines concentrated liquidity with fast blockchains to offer traders lower slippage and give liquidity providers more control over capital deployment. Its permissionless and composable design makes it a building block for new DeFi services. As with any on-chain protocol, users should weigh the benefits against smart contract risk and market volatility before participating.