Price Bin
A discrete price bucket in DLMM systems like Meteora where liquidity is allocated with zero slippage within the bin boundaries.
Price Bin — A price bin is a discrete price level in a DLMM (Dynamic Liquidity Market Maker) that holds a specific amount of liquidity at a single price point. Bins function similarly to individual price levels on an order book, and liquidity providers can deposit into one or many bins to define their market-making strategy.
What Is a Price Bin?
A price bin is the fundamental unit of liquidity organization in DLMM protocols like Meteora on Solana and Trader Joe Liquidity Book on Avalanche. Each bin represents a specific price at which tokens can be exchanged. Trades that occur entirely within a single bin execute at that exact price with zero slippage.
Price bins are spaced at fixed percentage intervals, typically defined by a bin step parameter. A bin step of 10 basis points means each adjacent bin price differs by 0.1%. Smaller bin steps offer more precision but require more active management.
How Price Bins Work
When a swap occurs, the DLMM first fills the order from the active bin (the bin at the current price). If the trade exceeds the active bin liquidity, it moves to the next bin, then the next, walking through bins sequentially like filling an order book. Each bin transition introduces a small price increment equal to the bin step.
Liquidity providers choose which bins to deposit into and how much to allocate per bin. Common strategies include concentrating in bins near the current price for maximum fee capture, or spreading across many bins for broader coverage. The flexibility of bin-by-bin allocation enables sophisticated market-making approaches.
Why Price Bins Matter
Price bins give liquidity providers unprecedented control over their positions. Unlike continuous AMMs where liquidity is spread smoothly across a range, bins allow LPs to create custom liquidity shapes: heavy at certain prices, light at others, or asymmetric between buy and sell sides.
For traders, the bin model provides transparent pricing. You can see exactly how much liquidity exists at each price level before executing a trade, similar to reading an order book on a centralized exchange.
Related Terms
DLMM (Dynamic Liquidity Market Maker)
Meteora's liquidity design that uses price bins to allocate liquidity, offering zero slippage within each bin.
Read definition DeFi & AMMTick (AMM)
Discrete price boundaries used in concentrated liquidity AMMs (Uniswap v3) to define price ranges for LP positions.
Read definition DeFi & AMMConcentrated Liquidity
A Uniswap v3 innovation allowing LPs to provide liquidity within a specific price range, increasing capital efficiency dramatically.
Read definition DeFi & AMMPool Reserves
The total quantity of each token held in a liquidity pool at any given time; determines pricing via the AMM formula.
Read definitionFrequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Price Bin in cryptocurrency and DeFi.
Ticks in Uniswap V3 define the boundaries of continuous liquidity ranges. Price bins in DLMMs are discrete containers that hold liquidity at a single price point. Ticks mark where liquidity changes; bins are the liquidity itself at each price level.
Yes. You can deposit into a single bin if you want exposure to only one specific price point. However, single-bin positions go out of range quickly in volatile markets. Most LPs spread across multiple bins to stay active longer.
When a trade depletes the active bin, the DLMM moves to the next bin in the direction of the trade. The price updates to the new bin price, and trading continues. If no adjacent bins have liquidity, the trade fails or partially fills.
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