Decentralized Exchanges: The Profitability Frontier of Constant Product Market Makers

Abstract: In this paper we analyze constant product market makers (CPMMs). We formalize the liquidity providers' profitability conditions and introduce a concept we call the profitability frontier in the xyk-space. We study the effect of mint and burn fees on the profitability frontier, consider various pool types, and compile a large data set from all Uniswap V2 transactions. We use this data to further study our theoretical framework and the profitability conditions. We show how the profitability of liquidity provision is severely affected by the costs of mint and burn events relative to the portfolio size and the characteristics of the trading pair.