Trader Joe Review 2025: Complete Guide to the Top DEX on Avalanche

Last updated: Nov 11, 2023
30 Min Read
AI Generated Summary
Summary
Summary
Trader Joe.svg
Trader Joe
The #1 DEX on Avalanche!
https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2021/09/Telegram_inline.jpg
bybit_inline
Trader Joe.svg
Trader Joe
The #1 DEX on Avalanche!
https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2021/09/Telegram_inline.jpg
bybit_inline
Trader Joe.svg
Trader Joe
The #1 DEX on Avalanche!
Our Take :

Trader Joe is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that embraces the Avalanche network and ecosystem, offering a number of DeFi-related services including yield farming, staking, and trading. It is an AMM that focuses on trading Avalanche (AVAX) but also offers services related to lending and borrowing, liquidity pools, leverage trading, yield farming, NFTs, staking, and a launchpad. 

Trader Joe.svg
Trader Joe
The #1 DEX on Avalanche!
4.8

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are a vital part of the crypto ecosystem. They are one of the cornerstones of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), and for the first time in history, provide traders with of way of swapping assets without having to go through a centralized authority. This Trader Joe review and tutorial will cover why it is so much more than just a DEX and go over everything you need to know about the #1 crypto hub in the Avalanche ecosystem.

Headquarters:N/A- Decentralized platform
Year Established:2021
Regulation:None- Decentralized
Spot Cryptocurrencies Listed:100+
Native Token:JOE
Fees:0.3% fee on swaps which goes to liquidity providers and sJOE staking rewards
Security:

Secured by the Avalanche protocol, Self-Custodial security measures required.

Third-party audited

Beginner Friendly:

No- DEXs have a steep learning curve.

Those familiar with DeFi will find trading, staking, and lending easy.

LP, Farming, and Launch are more suitable for experienced DeFi users.

KYC/AML verification:None
Fiat Currency Support:None
Deposit/Withdraw Methods:Crypto

 

https://img.coinbureau.dev/strapi/2021/09/Telegram_inline.jpg

 

What is Trader Joe DEX?

Trader Joe introduces itself as a one-stop shop for decentralized finance, and they certainly fit that description. Trader Joe is primarily a DEX for trading on Avalanche, Arbitrum, Ethereum and BNB Chain, but has features for staking, lending, borrowing, liquidity pools, NFTs, farming, and a launch pad.

Trader Joe homepage
 A Look at the Trader Joe Homepage

Trader Joe was founded in 2021 by pseudonymous founders 0xMurloc and Cryptofish who set out to create a unique and innovative trading platform for the Avalanche blockchain and advance the new frontier of decentralized finance.

Cryptofish claims to be a full-stack and smart contract engineer who was an early contributor to several Avalanche projects such as Snowball and Sherpa Cash and has worked at Google while holding a master’s in Computer Science. 0xMurloc is a full-stack developer with experience in several startups and also a Senior Product Lead at Grab. I say “claims” due to the founders being quasi-anonymous, so we can only take them at their word.

Since launching, the platform has attracted over $4 billion in total value locked (TVL) and has quickly become the largest DEX on Avalanche. Trader Joe is also backed by some big money and players in the space, here is a shot showing the backers who have confidence in the platform:

trader joe investors
 Image via Trader Joe Whitepaper

⚠️Important Note⚠️:This goes for ANY DEX or platform; always be sure that you are using the proper URL to access the website. Multiple fake websites are carbon copies of the original with similar URLs, set up to trick users into depositing funds onto a scam site. Always bookmark the proper site and be sure to find the URL directly from the platform’s whitepaper, or a site like CoinMarketCap. Trader Joes URL is traderjoexyz.com NOT traderjoe.xyz.com

The first thing you will need to do to get started with Trader Joe is add the Avalanche network to your MetaMask wallet and add some funds. If you already know how to do this, then feel free to skip the Trader Joe Tutorial and go straight to the “Key Features” section.

How to Connect MetaMask to Trader Joe

In case you didn’t know, MetaMask has grown far beyond just the Ethereum network, and now supports Polygon, Avalanche, BSC, Fantom, and more, you just need to make sure you’ve selected the proper network. If you are new to MetaMask, here is a MetaMask tutorial to catch you up to speed.

To change the network on MetaMask from Ethereum to Avalanche, simply go to settings:

Metamask settings

Then go to networks and you should already see Avalanche available:

select avalanche

If Avalanche is not available, you will need to go back to settings and select "add custom RPC" then add it manually. Don't worry, it's easy and only takes a minute. Here are the steps to add the Avalanche network to MetaMask.

Now to access Trader Joe, your MetaMask should look like this with the Avalanche network selected:

adding Avax

When you navigate to the Trader Joe site, you should see this in the top right-hand corner, confirming that you have MetaMask set to the correct network:

trader joe confirmed avax

Now you have license to kill and can go ahead and access the magic of the Trader Joe DEX. But hold up, you’re gonna need some ammo before going in guns blazin’. Be sure your MetaMask is funded with some Avalanche (AVAX) tokens as it is needed to cover transaction fees on the Avalanche network.

Avalanche can be picked up on major exchanges, I recommend Binance. Needing AVAX to cover fees on the Avalanche network is the same concept as needing to hold some ETH to cover transaction fees on the Ethereum network.   

**Important Note** When funding your MetaMask wallet with AVAX, be sure you select the network Avalanche C-Chain aka AVAXC (AVAX C-Chain) when withdrawing your Avalanche from an exchange.

avax c chain
 Avalanche Withdraw Options on Binance

Selecting the wrong network to withdraw on can result in lost funds so it is important to understand the difference between Avalanches C-Chain, X-Chain, and P-Chain.

C-Chain is the Contract Chain. This is the chain that is primarily used to access the Avalanche network for DeFi. The C stands for “contracts”, as in, the type of smart contracts that are used in DeFi. The key difference is that the C-Chain uses Ethereum-style addresses that begin with 0x, which makes it compatible with MetaMask.

X-Chain is the Exchange Chain. The key difference between the C-Chain and the X-Chain is that the X-Chain cannot be used with MetaMask or similar wallets and cannot be used in DeFi. The X-Chain address is used to access native Avalanche wallets and follows a different format.

The X-Chain is primarily used to send and receive funds on the AVAX network and focuses on fund transfers, avoiding the expensive fees that can be present on the C-Chain during high network usage. The X-Chain can send transactions for 0.001 AVAX, cheaper than the C-Chain, and much quicker as well.

P-Chain is the Platform Chain. The primary function of this chain is for staking AVAX and serving as a validator. When validating, your AVAX rewards will be received on this chain, and it is also possible to receive transfers from the other two chains. If you don’t plan on staking AVAX then you don’t need to worry about this chain.

While having three different chains may seem silly and unnecessary, I actually think this is quite clever. We have seen the issues with ETH in the form of insanely high gas fees and slow transaction times, and networks like Solana completely crashing under network stress.

Instead of trying to do everything on one chain, Avalanche spreads the burden, making it one of the most useable, cheap, and advanced layer one networks, with a high TPS of 4,500, approximately 2-second transaction times, and thorough decentralization over 1,040 validators.

avalanche chains
 Image via blocmates

Alright, back to Trader Joe. You will also likely want to fund your MetaMask wallet with JOE tokens to interact with the platform.

add joe
 Adding JOE to MetaMask

By clicking on “Add Joe to Wallet” you automatically import the JOE token address into your MetaMask so you will now see JOE under your assets like so:

joe

You can do this with any of the tokens on Trader Joe, which is super convenient, I wish all DEXs had this feature as scouring for token contract addresses can open you up to risk of using the wrong address, or a fake one set up by scammers pretending to be the real token, which brings me to a safety tip:

Safety Tip: When adding a token contract address to MetaMask, or any wallet, if the platform doesn’t give you the option to “add token,” like on Trader Joe, and you need to manually enter the token contract address, make sure you are always locating the original and legitimate token address. These can be found on the project’s websites, whitepapers, Coin Market Cap, or Blockchain explorers such as Etherscan. Don’t copy and paste a contract address from a random stranger pretending to help you out on Telegram.

Now that you can see JOE under "assets" in MetaMask, you can swap some AVAX for JOE on the Trader Joe Trade screen, or purchase some JOE from Binance or Crypto.com and send to your wallet.

Here is another way to easily add token addresses on Trader Joe: You can select the token you want to swap for, and again, will see the option to “add token to wallet,” here is an example of how this would look for USDC:

add usdc

Just click that, and now USDC will show up under “assets” in your MetaMask wallet. Neat!

Trader Joe Key Features

There is a lot to unpack on Trader Joe, they weren’t kidding when they said a “One-Stop-Shop” for DeFi. I will just quickly note in case you get overwhelmed, that trading/swaps are super straightforward and simple, so is staking and lending. You do not need to get involved with the more complex features of liquidity provision or farming if you choose not to.

How to Trade on Trader Joe

For anyone who has used a standard AMM DEX like Uniswap or SushiSwap, this will look familiar to you as Trader Joe works on the same principles.  Simply head to the top of the screen where it says “trade” or select the Trade tile like so:

Trading on Trader Joe

And that will take you to the simple trading screen where you can swap tokens which looks like this:

Trader Joe Swap

This will allow you to swap whatever tokens are available in your MetaMask for new tokens. Before you hit the Swap button, you will see a confirmation screen that will provide you with some important details about your swap:

swap info

Minimum received - This shows the minimum amount you will receive and takes into account things like possible slippage. The transaction will automatically revert if there is a sudden large unfavourable price movement before the transaction is confirmed.

Price Impact - This shows the impact that your swap will have on the liquidity pools. This only needs to be taken into consideration if you are trading massive amounts, as whales don’t want to have a large negative impact on the pool.

Liquidity Provider Fee - This is the fee that rewards the liquidity providers for providing liquidity to the DEX. A DEX could not run if it wasn’t for these guys, many of who are average folks just like you and I who choose to simply provide liquidity.

Once you hit the Swap button, you will see a popup that asks if you want to confirm the transaction. Hitting “confirm swap” will prompt your MetaMask wallet to open up and ask you to sign or confirm the transaction. This is normal for MetaMask, it just approves the transaction from the wallet side.

Liquidity Pools at Trader Joe

As with other DEXs, users can add their tokens to the Trader Joe liquidity pools and earn some passive income from fees generated on the platform.

trader joe pool

When you click into the pool section, you will be brought to a screen that shows you all the token pair pools available that you can join and provide liquidity for, as well as all the token pools you are already a part of, and the option to create a pool.

pool pairs
 A Look at Some of Trader Joe's Liquidity Pools

If we take the USDC.e-AVAX pool as an example, we can see the following metrics available that give users important information about that pool:

trading pool info

The APR is a variable fee and will change from day to day depending on trading activity and volume on the platform.

To add tokens to the pool, users will need to hold both tokens, so for AVAX-USDC.e, users need both AVAX and USDC.e in their MetaMask wallet. This is what the screen looks like to add or manage your funds in a pool:

manage pool

When you enter the value of one token to dictate how much you want to add to the pool, in the example above I chose 10 USDC.e. The platform will automatically populate the figure for the other asset, in my example, the platform automatically calculated 0.562006 AVAX.

This is because users need to add equal liquidity to both sides of the pool. You cannot add 100 USDC.e and 0 AVAX as that will offset the pool balance, so be sure you have enough of both tokens in your wallet to contribute.

To make this process even easier, Trader Joe added the “Zap” functionality, which makes converting tokens to the right amount of Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens a breeze:

zap

Before Zap, to add liquidity to the USDC.e-AVAX pool, a trader would need to convert both USDC and AVAX to the correct LP tokens, then hit “add liquidity.” With Zap, users can bypass these steps and head straight to the LP token, saving on steps and transaction fees.

Zap screen
 A Look into the Zap Feature

It is important to understand that when you provide liquidity to a liquidity pool, you will receive LP tokens back, so if you add JOE tokens, for example, you will receive JLP tokens (Joe Liquidity Pool tokens) in return.

This basically acts like a receipt and proof that you contributed JOE to the pool, and you will use these LP tokens to swap back for your deposited tokens once you are ready to withdraw from the pool, this is standard across all DEXs. Your annualized yield is also paid out in the form of LP tokens.

These LP tokens can be used in one of the Farms to earn extra yield for users who want more rewards, more on that later.

Now, it is important to discuss the biggest risk involved when providing liquidity on any DEX, and that is the risk of Impermanent Loss (IL).

Warning
 Image via Shutterstock

Impermanent loss occurs when the price ratio of the supplied token pair changes. The more volatile the assets are in the pool, the more likely it is that users may be exposed to impermanent loss. The Automated Market Maker (AMM) system dictates that the total liquidity must remain balanced across both tokens to maintain equilibrium within the pool.

The impermanent part means that the value of the token that was readjusted to maintain equilibrium may return to its initial price if left in the pool. If the user withdrawals their tokens while the balance is off, they could be withdrawing tokens that now have a lower value than when they were entered into the pool, which turns the “impermanent” loss part to “permanent” loss as withdrawing the tokens made the loss “realized” and no longer “unrealized” to use financial terms.

Here is a great diagram from Splintertalk.io showing an example of this:

impermanent loss
 Image via Splintertalk

Be sure to fully understand the risks of impermanent loss before deciding if liquidity providing is right for you.

Trader Joe Yield Farming

If you are going to be providing liquidity on Trader Joe then you may as well take advantage of Yield Farming too, a nice one-two combo for earning passive income.

trader joe farm

Farms are a way to incentivize users to add liquidity. The Farm section will show all the token pairs you can add tokens into, as well as show the top farms, stablecoin farms, and any farms you are already participating in:

farm screen

This is where you can put those LP tokens to work that I mentioned in the Pool section, the tokens that users receive and earn by participating in liquidity pools. LP tokens can be staked in the farms for an additional APY.

Once you find the farm that you hold the corresponding LP tokens for, we’ll use AVAX/USDC as an example, you will click on the pair in the Farm section which will take you to a screen that looks like this:

avax usdc farm

You will find important information such as the liquidity, Pool APR, JOE APR, and this is where you will select the amount of LP tokens you want to stake on the right-hand side.

Once again, as soon as you click stake, or make any transaction, your MetaMask wallet will automatically pop up again for you to verify the transaction.

The JOE APR is a nice little bonus, not only will traders earn the Pool APR for the tokens they deposited into the pool, but also JOE tokens, shown by the “JOE APR”, to incentivize users to use Trader Joe over the competitors.

Once you’ve accrued some JOE tokens, you will be able to see the JOE rewards and hitting “harvest” will add the tokens to your wallet:

harvest joe

Pro Tip for the DeFi Degenerates 💰: What to do with your JOE tokens? Well, you can simply hodl em’ and sell them when they appreciate in value, or why not head back to the Trade section, swap out your JOE for additional pool tokens, and reinvest those tokens back into the pool, therefore earning more token rewards AND more JOE tokens, rinse and repeat and cha-ching! 🤓 💸

Staking on Trader Joe

Trader Joe also supports staking, which is a pretty nice perk, increasing the usability of the platform.

trader joe stake

Why the image is of a pig wearing a suit and sunglasses? I have no idea. The pool image for liquidity pools makes sense, an image of a crop for farming…yup, I’m with you. The rocket ship tile for the launchpad, I’m still tracking, but the pig in a suit? You lost me. Maybe it should have been a cow. A cow for stake, get it? steak?

I think I just heard some crickets. Man, I need some better jokes…

Anyway, back to staking. Staking on Trader Joe is quite limited, and only supports JOE token staking.

joe staking
 A Look at JOE Staking

The different categories for staking are as follows:

sJOE- This allows for the earning of USDC stablecoins as a bonus for staking JOE. There is a 1% deposit fee and staking has a current APR of 13.92% at the time of writing.

rJOE- Allows for participation in Launch events. Staking JOE will reward users with rJOE which can be used to participate in new projects’ launch events. I’ll cover the Launch events in the next section.

veJOE- Stands for Voting Escrow JOE, which will boost farming rewards.

xJOE states that it is no longer receiving revenues, and the platform asks users to unstake from xJOE and switch over to sJOE instead.

Trader Joe Launch (Rocket Joe)

Launchpads are one of my favourite features in all of crypto. As someone who feels thoroughly stepped on as a retail investor by the predatory institutional financial firms, I feel like Launchpads give average folks the ability to do what could only traditionally be done by VC firms, institutions, deep-pocketed individuals, and those with friends in high places.

We all know that retail investors are the last group to receive the scraps of data and information left over after firms are done with it. Retail is always the last to know important information such as trends and economic data, which is why we are referred to as, “dumb money.” Launchpads provide a way for average users to get involved in early projects, a benefit traditionally reserved for “smart money,” and something seldom possible before DeFi.

There are many Launchpads available in the crypto industry, Trader Joe Launch can be found by hitting the rocket ship tile:

launch

Once you have some rJOE, you can head to the Launch screen that shows a bunch of projects that are part of Trader Joe Launch. Allocations for newly issued tokens from new projects can be unlocked by traders spending rJOE tokens and depositing AVAX. Participants will then receive LP tokens from the launch event.

Here is a look at the Launch screen:

launch screen

Here is a diagram that shows Trader Joe himself chilling on the moon and staring at the process to help you visualize how it works:

Trader Joe launch process
 Image via Trader Joe

Launchpads can be extremely lucrative. Image the insanely high values seen by some of your favourite projects during the 2021 bull run, now imagine if you were able to get those tokens for free by staking, or for fractions of the cost as an early investor.

Many launchpad investors enjoy thousands of percentage APY, take a look at the massive success of the Binance Launchpad for example:

binance launchpad
 Image via Twitter/coin98analytics

This shows the potential returns that Launchpad users may experience.

Risk Warning ⚠️: Though I mentioned that I am a huge fan of Launchpads, not all launchpad platforms are created equal. The Launch feature on a platform like Trader Joe can carry a high level of risk due to the projects being very small and at high risk of failure. Tokens received from failed projects have no value. Furthermore, because these new projects will have small market caps, their tokens will be more volatile, increasing the risk of impermanent loss.

I prefer to use Launch pads from more established platforms. For centralized and easy-to-use launchpads, Binance is a great place to go, and Crypto.com has a similar feature called Supercharger which easily airdrops project tokens to users simply for staking CRO tokens.

For Decentralized launchpads, I recommend gaming blue-chip project Enjin and their Enjinstarter launchpad, and TrustSwap is another great DeFi platform with a fantastic launchpad, showcasing carefully vetted crypto projects.

Trader Joe DeFi Lending (Banker Joe)

While liquidity pools and farming can seem overwhelming, Trader Joe Lend provides a far more user-friendly and simple way to earn passive income on your holdings. Lend can be accessed by hitting the tile with the guy dressed as the Monopoly man with the pet duck/chicken thing:

Trader Joe lend

If you have tokens sitting idle in your MetaMask wallet, you can lend them out to other users and earn interest.  Once inside the Lend area, you will see the tokens that you can deposit and the APY:

Trader Joe lend screen

APYs range from 0.04% up to 9.85% at the time of writing and are subject to change. There are currently 11 assets available to lend. The entire lending and borrowing process is automated, one of the beautiful functions of smart contracts, so the user doesn’t need to seek borrowers, vet them, or worry about if they will be able to pay back the loan as lending is over collateralized and repayments are automatically coded into the contract, making lending low-risk.

Lending on Trader Joe is great as you earn in-kind APY rewards for the token you lend out. Users who lend out AVAX, for example, will receive AVAX interest payments, and some lent tokens can also qualify to receive additional JOE token APY as a cheeky little added bonus. 😎

Trader Joe NFTs

Trader Joe is breaking some ground here, also offering an NFT marketplace called Joepegs, where people can list and shop for AVAX NFTs.

joepegs
 Image via Joepegs

While the two largest networks for NFTs are undoubtedly Ethereum and Solana, networks like Cardano and Avalanche are quickly becoming popular blockchains for NFT support as well.

Here is a look at some of the collections available on Joepegs:

trader joe nfts
 Image via Joepegs

It is interesting to see an NFT marketplace on a DEX platform. I think it is a great move in the right direction that should hopefully see an increase in trading volume and use once the markets pick up, but as of now, Joepegs does not have a lot of trading activity going on and is nowhere near the likes of OpenSea or Magic Eden in terms of NFT selection. But hey, gotta start somewhere!

Trader Joe Fees

As with any good DeFi DEX (excluding those on Ethereum), the fees are minuscule compared to centralized exchanges. Also, like any top-tier DEX, most, if not all fees should go back to the community and LPs who make the DEX possible. Trader Joe is legit and on the up and up here, no shady business going on.

Because the DEX is built on AVAX, users will experience significantly lower fees than on its Ethereum counterparts, with average fees being 1-5 cents per transaction, all of which go to the Avalanche network validators, not the Trader Joe platform.

Token swaps on the platform will have a 0.3% trading fee.

  • 0.25% - Paid to liquidity pools in the form of a trading fee for liquidity providers
  • 0.05% - Sent to sJOE Staking

Trader Joe KYC and Account Verification

Not here! As Trader Joe is a decentralized application, there is no KYC or account verification necessary. If you are just coming across Decentralized Finance for the first time, check out Guy’s video on DeFi 101:

Trader Joe Security

As this is a decentralized platform, the onus of security is mostly on the user, not the platform. The platform protocols themselves are secured by the Avalanche blockchain, and the platform was fully audited by HashEX and Paladin. Here are the audit results for Trader Joe if you want to verify this for yourself.

Ultimately, when it comes to DeFi, all the security responsibilities that come along with self-custody are at play here. Make sure you understand the importance of self-custody security and non-custodial services before jumping in.

Be sure to check out Guy's video: Crypto Custody 101 to learn more about crypto custody.

Cryptocurrencies Available on Trader Joe

According to Coin Gecko, there are 171 coins and 266 pairs available on Trader Joe. Traders will not find major coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum here as the tokens supported need to be on the Avalanche network, though wrapped versions of BTC and ETH can be picked up.

Stablecoins supported are USDC, Tether, and DAI.

Trader Joe Exchange Platform Design and Usability

As I’ve already alluded to, anyone who has only used centralized exchanges like Coinbase and CeFi platforms like Nexo are in for a trip here if they are accessing DeFi for the first time.

The world of DeFi is a wonderful place and I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in crypto to take the DeFi plunge. It has so many advantages over centralized finance, with the two biggest benefits being:

  • More secure- there is no authority or intermediary that can halt withdrawals, restrict asset movement, lock you out of an account, or take back funds. It is the equivalent to if you have cash in your home vs trusting it to your bank, and we’ve all seen how well that plays out when governments ban their people from accessing their bank accounts.
  • Considerably cheaper- As there are no greedy banker middlemen or companies taking a cut and charging additional fees, DeFi is much cheaper (except for Ethereum…for now). The only fees go to validators and miners on the associated network, and transactions on networks like Avalanche, Solana, Near and Cardano can be completed for fractions of a dollar.
bybit_inline

 

Anyone who has used a DEX like Uniswap or PancakeSwap will have no issues as Trader Joe is built and designed brilliantly. The platform is incredibly easy to navigate, it is so simple to use that I feel like I could find my way around darn-near blindfolded.

For early DeFi users, it is clear that Trader Joe is a next-generation DeFi platform. They have improved upon many of the early complexities and made every task as straightforward as possible. They even added some fun graphics, designs and menus, not every DeFi platform needs to look as boring as QuickSwap.

Trader Joe Token (JOE): Uses and Performance

One thing that I think the Trader Joe platform does better than most DEXs is that they have created multiple demand drivers and use cases for the JOE token, which could contribute to long-term price appreciation through simple supply and demand principles.

If Trader Joe continues its adoption and growth over time, the demand for users to hold the token will increase. Unfortunately, as we are in the depths of a bear market as I write this, trading volume is low on the platform as interest in the crypto market is decreasing. As for the token, we can see the steep drop in JOE trading volume since August 2021 and a similarly stark picture for total value locked (TVL) over the following 180 days:

JOE metrics
 Images via Token Terminal

Turning to price, the token launched in mid-2021 (very bad luck/timing), with a price of just under $2. The token saw quick upward appreciation nearly instantaneously and whipsawed quite dramatically until hitting its all-time high of just under $5 a few weeks later. JOE has since crashed hard along with the broader crypto market, currently sitting at around $0.24, a drop of 95% from its ATH and 88% below its launch price… Ouch. 🤕

joe price
 Image via CoinMarketCap

Now, all this is sounding very bearish and grim for the JOE token and platform, but I wouldn’t necessarily agree.

As mentioned, Trader Joe launched at a really unfortunate time in June 2021, after much of the euphoria of the bull market was already wearing off. The project did not get to enjoy the benefits of adoption and profitability of the entire bull market but is sure feeling the hurt of the entire bear market.

Nearly everyone in the crypto industry, likely the Trader Joe founders as well, were expecting the bull market to last a lot longer than it did and may not have launched had they known they were at the tail of a bull market before experiencing a very harsh crypto market downturn.

Trader Joe is the largest DEX on Avalanche and is one of the more feature-packed and well-designed DEXs I have seen. If they can make it through this bear market, I could see Trader Joe becoming the Uniswap of the Avalanche ecosystem.

While I do not hold JOE token, I will be keeping an eye on it as I am more bullish on this JOE token than most DEX tokens if I am honest, simply due to the way the platform has integrated the token cleverly into many of its features, the large upside potential of the Avalanche ecosystem and the Trader Joe platform, and the fact that prices are sitting at over an 85% discount at the time of writing.

Here are some of the use cases for the JOE token:

Staking- Stake JOE to earn sJOE, xrJOE and veJOE and APY.

Liquidity Pool and Farming- JOE token can be used in many of the pools and farms.

Access Launch- rJOE tokens are needed to access the Launch platform.

Lend- JOE tokens can be lent out

Governance- JOE tokens can be used for governance proposals.

Another thing that could lead to users being bullish on the token is that there were no pre-sales, private sales, or pre-listing allocations of JOE token, so no need to worry about whales and early investors dumping tokens and causing sell-side pressure. That is a pretty big plus in my books.

The distribution of JOE is also fair, with the vast majority going to the Liquidity Providers:

JOE distribution
 Image via Trader Joe Whitepaper

If Trader Joe can become even a fraction of successful as Ethereum’s Uniswap, this could be a token worth looking into, especially for those who are bullish on the Avalanche ecosystem. Trader Joe set out to become a one-stop-shop DeFi platform and they are a great example of this, successfully becoming far more than just a DEX.

It looks like I am not the only one optimistic about Trader Joe’s future either as I find the exchange support for such a small cap coin a very telling sign. Normally, tokens from such new/small projects like these are hard to find on major exchanges but JOE tokens can be picked up on Binance, FTX, Gate.io, OKX, Crypto.com, and of course, Trader Joe.

Trader Joe Customer Support

Support can be found on the Trader Joe official Discord help desk. As a rule of thumb when it comes to DeFi, I generally never expect decent, or any support, as we need to keep in mind that most of these platforms are not run by paid staff. They are platforms created by the people, for the people.

There is generally a strong community behind these platforms and support can often be attained by the generosity of the community who all chip in to help each other out on sites like Reddit and Discord. The Trader Joe Discord is one of the better support chats I have experienced with over 15k members, so support is pretty quick and easy to come by here.

Trader Joe also has a very well-put-together whitepaper which explains everything users need to know, including tutorials to help answer many questions.

Trader Joe Top Benefits Reviewed

The strongest benefits for Trader Joe are the multitude of options they offer, being so much more powerful than a simple DEX. I like all the options built into the platform; it provides a service that is much needed for the Avalanche ecosystem.

There is also a strong community and a help desk in Discord, along with a handy analytics dashboard and good asset support.

What can be Improved

Trader Joe truly is a fantastic platform, and I cannot find any glaring faults with it. If I was going to be very picky, I guess it would be nice to see AVAX staking added to the Staking options.

Some users may be put off by the pseudononymous creators behind Trader Joe as anonymous creators can often be a warning sign of a project that is a scam or a likely rug pull. Though both creators do have active online presences that can be traced back and are known for their work on previous projects.

Normally, anonymous teams and founders put me off projects as well, but I am not concerned here as these guys didn't pop up overnight and we can trace their history. Being pseudononymous is also a clever move here because when crypto regulatory crackdowns happen like we saw with Uniswap, the founder's anonymitity will likely be a strength, not weakness.

Trader Joe Review Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised with Trader Joe. After using and reviewing many DEXs over the years, it is quite clear that the team behind the Trader Joe platform is well versed, knowledgeable, and knows exactly what it takes to make a great DeFi hub.

While the Avalanche ecosystem is quite new and smaller than many other blockchain networks, it is seeing rapid growth and is a serious contender to become a top layer-1 blockchain and a very strong Ethereum competitor. With Trader Joe solidly holding onto the title of top DEX on AVAX, I would not be surprised to see the platform continue its growth, adoption, and success.

Tayler McCracken

Providing financial education to those who need it most has always been a passion of mine. While working as a Financial Advisor, I had my eyes opened to the world of crypto and its potential to help make the world a better place. I believe that blockchain technology can build a brighter future and am excited to be part of it. 

---

Socials:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaylerTBM
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayler-m-437293124/

Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.

Previous article
Best Crypto Exchanges in December 2024
next article
NEAR Protocol Review 2024: Updates You Don't Want to Miss!