Type a swap into the composer and a quote comes back: the amount you would receive, the network fee on its own line, and dated figures for other exchanges beside it. This is how that quote is built today, step by step.
A swap quote should answer one question plainly: how much arrives in my wallet? This post walks through how Cambio builds that answer, in the order it happens.
The steps at a glance
- 1. Read the request — turn your message into a structured swap
- 2. Check the route — confirm the pair is served and your amount is within its limits
- 3. Quote your exact amount — the selected execution route prices your size
- 4. State the fee — the network fee goes on its own line
- 5. Add reference rows — dated figures for other exchanges
- 6. Explain — a short sentence in plain language, with no numbers in it
Step 1 — Reading the request
The composer turns "swap 0.1 ETH to USDT on Tron" into structured fields: the coin you send and its network, the coin you receive and its network, and the amount. Clear, common phrasings are parsed by deterministic code; a language model helps with messages the parser cannot read on its own. Either way, the model may only name coins, networks and the amount you typed — never a price, a rate or an address.
Step 2 — Checking the route
The pair has to be one that an execution route serves, and your amount has to sit between that route's minimum and maximum at that moment. Both limits belong to the route, so they differ between pairs and change over time. A pair that is not served is refused before any pricing happens, and an amount outside the limits is refused before any deposit address exists.
Step 3 — Quoting your exact amount
The selected execution route quotes the swap at your amount — not at a round size scaled up or down — because fees that do not scale with size make a small swap and a large swap cost different percentages.
The same route also fills the swap. You send your coins to the deposit address shown for your order, and the payout is sent to the address you give. No account or stored balance is created.
Cambio's price is 0.38% on most routes, already inside the amount you are quoted. Nothing is added after the quote.
Step 4 — Stating the network fee
Putting coins on the destination chain costs a network fee. Cambio's quote states it on its own line rather than folding it into the rate, so you can see how much of the gap between the market price and what you receive is that fee.
Step 5 — Adding reference rows
Beside the quote, other well-known exchanges appear as reference rows. Each is either a dated check of that exchange's own website, made by a separate server, or an Est. row fitted from that exchange's earlier quotes to Cambio and labelled with their dates. They are never offered and never executed, and each carries the date it was observed.
These rows come from stored, dated evidence. Building them makes no call to another exchange while you wait for your quote.
Step 6 — Explaining the quote
Finally, the AI writes a short sentence about the quote. It does not choose the price and it does not repeat numbers: the quote card owns every figure, so the sentence and the card can never disagree.
Screening comes first
Before a deposit address is issued, the address you want paid is checked against the OFAC sanctions list and Cambio's own blocklist; a match stops the swap. No account is needed and Cambio asks for no identity documents; in rare cases the exchange filling your swap can ask for verification of its own.
What a quote is, and is not
- It is for your exact amount, with the network fee stated.
- It is not a rate lock: prices move while a deposit confirms, so the amount you receive can differ from the quote, in either direction.
- The reference rows beside it are dated evidence, not live offers.
The next post in the series compares Cambio to agentic wallets — Bankr, the deBridge MCP server, and the broader category of products that put a software agent inside your wallet.
