An automated market maker prices swaps from the ratio of assets in a pool using a fixed formula, with no order book and no discretionary quoting. Its determinism is what makes sandwich attacks reliably profitable.
Also known as AMM. manipulation techniques · updated 2026-09-08
Where does automated market maker come up?
This term is used in the following manipulation techniques, each explained in full on
its own page.
Sandwich attacks and MEV— A sandwich attack places one transaction immediately before a victim's pending swap and another immediately after it, moving the pool price so that the victim trades at a worse rate and the attacker keeps the difference.
See also
Liquidity pool— A liquidity pool is a smart contract holding two or more assets against which traders swap, with prices set by a formula rather th…
Sandwich attack— A sandwich attack places one transaction immediately before a victim's pending swap and another immediately after it, moving the p…