01What it is
The price you see is not the value you keep.
A token might show as worth $1,200. Sell it, and what lands in your wallet is a little less. The quoted rate is worse than the headline price, the provider takes a fee, and the network charges gas.
GAPLINE measures that difference before you trade and calls it the gap. It is a read-only tool: it looks, it calculates, and it tells you. It never moves your funds.
Example only: selling 0.5 ETH for USDC at an example price of $2,400.
02How a check works
Four steps, no wallet.
- You describe the trade.The token you send, the token you want, and how much. For example: sell 0.5 ETH for USDC.
- GAPLINE fetches a quote.It asks a provider what that exact trade would return right now, including the fees and gas the provider reports.
- It prices the trade independently.The reference price comes from a separate source, never from the quote being judged.
- It measures the gap.Reference value minus what you would keep, split into the parts that caused it.
The sum is simple: gap = price you see − what you keep. As a percentage, it is the gap divided by the price you see.
03The parts of a gap
Where the money goes.
Every part is counted once, and together they add up to the whole gap.
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Price gap | The quoted rate against the independent reference price. Spread and price impact live here. |
| Fee gap | The provider's fee. It is already taken out of what you receive, so it is not subtracted a second time. |
| Gas gap | The network fee. It is paid separately from the trade and valued at the same reference price. |
| Impact share | How much of the price gap is caused by your own trade moving the market. Shown only when the provider reports it. |
04Reading a result
What the labels mean.
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Price you see | Your amount multiplied by the reference price. |
| What you keep | What the trade returns after the price, the fee and gas. |
| Confidence | How much of the estimate rests on reported data. It drops for very large trades and when costs are missing. |
| Quote age | Seconds since the quote was fetched. Past 30 seconds it is marked expired and should be measured again. |
| Gap score | A 0 to 100 summary where higher is better. It is a placeholder formula for now and will change. |
| Unknown | The provider did not report this. It is shown as unknown with the reason, never as zero. |
When a check cannot be measured
GAPLINE says so, and shows nothing from an older quote in its place. A side with no number is drawn as a dashed outline.
| State | What happened |
|---|---|
| No route | No provider returned a quote for that pair at that size. A smaller trade may still have one. |
| Provider unreachable | The quote did not arrive in time. Nothing was measured. |
| No reference price | The independent price is missing or older than 60 seconds. The quote is shown, but no gap is called. |
| Offline | Your device has no connection. The check runs again when it returns. |
05Trade size
Bigger trade, wider gap.
An asset has no single price you can sell at. A small sale takes the best offers available. A large one works through them and into worse ones, so the average rate falls as the size grows.
That is why GAPLINE always asks for an amount, and why the checker shows the gap at several sizes. Each size is its own quote.
06Routes
The best price is not always the best result.
The same trade can be done through different venues. One may quote a better rate and charge a higher fee, and leave you with less.
GAPLINE ranks routes by what you would keep, with fees and gas included. Only routes that are fresh and fully costed are ranked. Nothing a venue pays can move it up the list.
07The rules
Built to be believed.
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Independent benchmark | The reference price never comes from the quote it is judging. |
| Freshness | Quotes older than 30 seconds and reference prices older than 60 seconds are not used. |
| Rounding | Against you, never for you. What you receive rounds down and costs round up. |
| Missing data | Reported as unknown, with the reason. Nothing is set to zero to look complete. |
| Ranking | Not for sale. Fees, referrals and token holdings never move a route. |
| Access | A wallet is optional for checks. Checks are saved only in this browser, for up to 30 days; view or clear them in History. |
08Coverage and status
Where things stand.
- Chain: Robinhood Chain first. Others are added by configuration, not by rewriting the product.
- Actions: sell and swap checks. The general Buy checker is not available.
- Scanner: new Pons launches, with exit checks at $100, $1,000, and $10,000.
- History: your latest 200 checks and trade results, kept in this browser for up to 30 days. It starts with new activity, stays on this device, and can be cleared in History.
- Execution: trading is limited to the owner's local pilot. The hosted checker does not submit transactions.
Live checks, historical estimates. The checker uses current provider and on-chain data. Saved checks describe what was estimated at that time; they are not current quotes or proof of a trade. Worked examples on this page are illustrative.
09Glossary
Plain definitions.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Gap | The difference between the price you see and what you keep. |
| Reference price | An independent price for the token, used as the benchmark. |
| Quote | A provider's statement of what a specific trade would return right now. |
| Provider | A service that supplies quotes, such as an aggregator. |
| Route | The path a trade takes through one or more venues. |
| Price impact | How much your own trade moves the price against you. |
| Gas | The fee paid to the network to process a transaction. |
| Stable | A token designed to hold a fixed value, such as USDC. |
10Questions
Asked often.
Do I need to connect a wallet?
No. Checking a trade never needs a wallet, a signature or an account.
Is the number a guarantee?
No. It is an estimate from a quote taken at one moment. Markets move, which is why a quote expires after 30 seconds.
Why does it say "unknown" instead of a number?
Because the provider did not report that figure. Showing a guess, or a zero, would make the result look more complete than it is.
Can the gap be positive?
Occasionally a route returns slightly more than the reference value. GAPLINE shows it as it is. It is an estimate, not a promise of profit.
Does GAPLINE make money from the route it ranks first?
Ranking is by what you would keep, and nothing else. Fees, referrals and token holdings are not inputs to the ranking.