Tron: Reducing Transaction Fees for Swaps

In this walkthrough, we focus on aspects unique to Tron and cross-chain swaps to and from the network.

For instructions for other directions, please refer to Swap & Bridge with Symbiosis

Transaction Fees on Tron

Transaction Fee Structure

On Tron, transaction fees work differently than on Ethereum and other chains. Instead of paying gas tokens for executing transactions, the network relies on resources:

• Bandwidth for simple transfers.

• Energy (plus some Bandwidth) for smart contract calls (DeFi, DEX, etc.).

When resources are insufficient, the network uses TRX from the account balance.

Bandwidth & Energy Origin

• Each account holding TRX or tokens receives a small daily Bandwidth allowance. (Empty accounts without any assets do not receive free Bandwidth.)

• Additional Bandwidth and Energy can be obtained by staking TRX. Staked TRX are locked for a minimum of 3 days before they can be unstaked.

• Additional Energy can be rented.

Avoiding TRX Spending

While simple transfers on Tron are often free or extremely cheap, transactions that call smart contracts (for swaps, lending, deposits, or cross-chain operations) can consume a significant amount of Energy. Without sufficient staked or rented resources, this results in TRX being spent from the account balance.

There are two main ways to reduce or completely avoid TRX spending on transactions:

• Rent Energy via JustLend JustLend DAO is the first official lending platform on TRON that allows assets to be borrowed, lent, and deposited. Through its Energy Rental service, Energy can be rented for a fixed period at a lower cost than paying TRX directly. This is especially useful for occasional DeFi interactions.

• Stake TRX to receive Energy and Bandwidth By staking TRX, an account receives a daily allocation of both Bandwidth and Energy. Staked TRX are locked for at least 3 days. TRX can be staked either via TronScan > Governance > TRX Staking or the TronLink wallet:

Example of Saving TRX

In this example, a cross-chain swap (TRX → USDC on Ethereum) is triggered. TronLink estimates the transaction execution will consume about 48.643 TRX (~$16.41): Important:

• The account has no staked or rented Energy.

• The smart contract has no sponsored Energy.

• As a result, 100% of the required Energy is paid by spending TRX.

How to reduce this cost:

• Rent Energy via JustLend → cover the Energy demand for a fraction of the price.

• Stake TRX for Energy → lock TRX (min. 3 days) and receive free Energy and Bandwidth daily.

How to estimate the resources (Energy and Bandwidth) you need:

When a transaction prompt appears in the wallet to be checked and signed, click Total Consumption:

Connecting Wallet

Important Tron addresses differ in format and length compared to those in EVM-compatible networks. These differences in address formats, combined with distinct architectural, consensus algorithm, and cryptographic standards, are reasons why wallets designed for EVM networks are not always compatible with Tron.

To connect a Tron-compatible wallet:

1. Navigate to Symbiosis WebApp

2. Click the Connect Wallet button or — if a wallet is connected — click the address shown at the top right corner:

3. Then select the Tron wallets tab:

4. Chose one of available Tron compatible wallet: If a selected wallet is not installed you will be redirected to the wallet website.

5. Confirm the connection to the Symbiosis WebApp in the wallet.

Done ∎

Important Note on WalletConnect

WalletConnect is a protocol designed to establish a secure connection between a mobile wallet and a web3 application. The most common use case for WalletConnect is when you have a wallet installed on your smartphone and want to link it to a web application running on a desktop.

The connecting wallet must support both: Tron and WalletConnect v2.

Steps to connect your mobile wallet using WalletConnect v2:

1. Navigate to Symbiosis WebApp > press the Connect Wallet button.

2. Select the Tron tab:

3. Press WalletConnect:

4. Scan the QR code displayed on Symbiosis WebApp with you mobile wallet.

5. After scanning the QR code, the wallet will ask you to confirm the connection to the web application. Please confirm the connection.

6. Once connected, you will see your Tron address connected:

Done ∎

Swapping Tokens from Tron to Another Chain

To exchange tokens from Tron for tokens on another blockchain network:

1. Navigate to Symbiosis WebApp.

2. Connect your Tron wallet.

3. In the Transfer from field, select Tron and the token you would like to exchange:

4. Enter an amount:

5. In the Transfer to field, select the network and the destination token (the token that you would like to get): In our example, we selected USDC on Arbitrun One as the destination token. Wait a bit to get swap details: If you get any messages or errors on this step and are not sure how to handle them, please see Common Issues and Solutions

6. Once Symbiosis WebApp has found the best rates for the selected token pair, please check the details carefully before executing the swap. Let's review the swap details of our example together: — The number of tokens displayed as 'to receive' already includes the cross-chain fees for the operation. Please note that the actual amount of received tokens may differ slightly from this displayed number, but it will remain within the range set by the slippage tolerance value. For instance, if 1000 tokens are displayed as 'to receive' and the slippage tolerance value is set at 3%, then the actual amount of received tokens could range between 970 and 1000 tokens. — Route is a sequence of intermediate swaps leading to the best price for the trade. In our example, it's TRX for USDT on Tron-> Bridging with Symbiosis -> USDC on Arbitrum One. — Price is the value of one cryptocurrency for the purpose of conversion to another for this particular swap. Please note the price depends on the swap size. — Slippage Tolerance is the maximum price change you're willing to accept for your trades to be completed. On-chain and cross-chain swaps will be treated in a special way if the price change exceeds the specified value. See More about Slippage Tolerance for more information. — Minimum Received is an estimate of the minimum token amount to receive for this trade based on current rates and settings. — Actual amount to be sent is the value of the entered token amount in the USD equivalent minus liquidity providers' fees (if any) on the source network. — Cross-chain fee is the estimated transaction fee on the destination network in the stablecoin equivalent. The sum will be deducted from the transfer amount to cover expenses for processing the transaction on the destination network. — Price impact is the difference between the market price and the estimated price due to the size of the trade. If you see that the price impact is high, you can try to reduce the token amount for a one-time cross-chain swap.

7. !! Recipient's address !! Set a valid recipient address. Please note, Tron addresses differ in format and length compared to those in EVM-compatible networks. Please use self-custodial wallets only! Do not send funds to addresses provided by exchanges or third-party services.

8. If you see the Approve <Token name> button, approve the token use by pressing the button and confirming the transaction in your wallet:

9. Press the Swap button:

10. Check and sign the transaction in your wallet:

11. Shortly you will get a confirmation.

Done ∎

Swapping Tokens to Tron from Another Chain

To exchange tokens from an EVM compatible network, such as Ethereum, the BNB chain, zkSync Era and so on for tokens on Tron:

1. Navigate to Symbiosis WebApp.

2. Connect your wallet for EVM compatible networks, such as MetaMask or Trust wallet.

3. In the Transfer from field, select the network and the source token: the token that you have and that you would like to exchange (in our example, this's ETH on Arbitrum One):

4. In the Transfer to field, select Tron as the destination network and the token that you would like to get: In our example, we selected TRX on Tron as the destination token.

5. Enter an amount and wait a bit to get swap details: If you get any messages or errors on this step and are not sure how to handle them, please see Common Issues and Solutions

6. Once Symbiosis WebApp has found the best rates for the selected token pair, please check the details carefully before executing the swap. Let's review the swap details of our example together: — The number of tokens displayed as 'to receive' already includes the liquidity provider fees and cross-chain fees for the operation. Please note that the actual amount of received tokens may differ slightly from this displayed number, but it will remain within the range set by the slippage tolerance value (always check the Minimum received amount). For instance, if 1000 tokens are displayed as 'to receive' and the slippage tolerance value is set at 3%, then the actual amount of received tokens could range between 970 and 1000 tokens. To change settings for Slippage tolerance, press the cogwheel icon — Route is a sequence of intermediate swaps leading to the best price for the trade. In our example, it's ETH for USDC on Arbitrum One -> Bridging with Symbiosis -> USDT for TRX on Tron. — Price is the value of one cryptocurrency for the purpose of conversion to another for this particular swap. Please note the price depends on the swap size. — Slippage Tolerance is the maximum price change you're willing to accept for your trades to be completed. On-chain and cross-chain swaps will be treated in a special way if the price change exceeds the specified value. See More about Slippage Tolerance for more information. — Minimum Received is an estimate of the minimum token amount to receive for this trade based on current rates and settings. — Actual amount to be sent is the value of the entered token amount in the stablecoin equivalent minus liquidity providers' fees (if any) on the source network. — Cross-chain fee is the estimated transaction fee on the destination network in the stablecoin or WETH equivalent. The sum will be deducted from the transfer amount to cover expenses for processing the transaction on the destination network. — Price impact is the difference between the market price and the estimated price due to the size of the trade. If you see that the price impact is high, you can try to reduce the token amount for a one-time cross-chain swap.

7. !! Recipient's address !! Set a valid recipient address. Please note Tron addresses differ in format and length compared to those in EVM-compatible networks. Please use self-custodial wallets only! Do not send funds to addresses provided by exchanges or third-party services.

8. If you see the Switch network to <Network name> button, switch to the network by pressing the button and confirming the action in your connected wallet:

9. If you see the Approve <Token name> button, approve the token use by pressing the button and confirming the transaction in your wallet. In our example, we do not need to approve ETH, since it's the native currency for the source blockchain.

10. Press the Swap button:

11. Check and confirm the transaction in your wallet (MetaMask in our example):

12. You can close the Waiting for Completion window and continue trading. You always can check your transaction using the Waiting for the transaction to be mined modal window.

13. Shortly you will get a confirmation:

Done ∎

Swapping On-chain on Tron

You can perform on-chain swaps on Tron using Symbiosis WebApp.

To perform an on-chain on Tron using Symbiosis WebApp:

To exchange tokens from Tron for tokens on another blockchain network:

1. Navigate to Symbiosis WebApp.

2. Connect your wallet compatible with Tron.

3. In the Transfer from field, select Tron and the token you would like to exchange; In the Transfer to field, select Tron and the token you would like to get; Enter an amount. Please consider the example below: — The number of tokens displayed as 'to receive' already includes the liquidity provider fees for the operation. Please note that the actual amount of received tokens may differ slightly from this displayed number, but it will remain within the range set by the slippage tolerance value (always check the Minimum received amount). For instance, if 1000 tokens are displayed as 'to receive' and the slippage tolerance value is set at 3%, then the actual amount of received tokens could range between 970 and 1000 tokens. To change settings for Slippage tolerance, press the cogwheel icon — Price is the value of one cryptocurrency for the purpose of conversion to another for this particular swap. Please note the price depends on the swap size. — Slippage Tolerance is the maximum price change you're willing to accept for your trades to be completed. On-chain and cross-chain swaps will be treated in a special way if the price change exceeds the specified value. See More about Slippage Tolerance for more information. — Minimum Received is an estimate of the minimum token amount to receive for this trade based on current rates and settings. — Price impact is the difference between the market price and the estimated price due to the size of the trade. If you see that the price impact is high, you can try to reduce the token amount for a one-time cross-chain swap. — Liquidity provider fee is a charge collected from traders for tokens exchange in liquidity pools.

4. Press the Swap button, check details of the transaction in your wallet and sign the transaction:

5. Transaction execution on Tron is very fast. You will get a confirmation almost instantly:

6. On-chain swaps on Tron can be checked here: https://tronscan.org/#/

Done ∎

How to Check Swap

There are two types of swaps that you can perform through Symbiosis WebApp:

1. On-chain swap: you exchange one token for another token. The exchanging tokens reside on one blockchain. For example, if you exchange ETH on Ethereum for USDC on Ethereum: this is an on-chain swap.

2. Cross-chain swap: you exchange one token for another token. The exchanging tokens reside on different blockchains. For example, if you exchange ETH on Ethereum for USDC on the BNB chain: this is a cross-chain swap.

(1) If you perform an on-chain transaction, just grab the transaction hash (it can be found in your wallet) and check it out in the block explorer of that blockchain where you performed your on-chain swap. On-chain swaps on Tron can be checked here: https://tronscan.org/#/

(2) If you are performing a cross-chain swap, we recommend that you use Symbiosis Explorer to check your operation. A cross-chain operation usually consists of three transactions, and knowing what happened in just one transaction is not enough to see the whole picture.

Symbiosis Explorer collects data related to cross-chain operations performed via the Symbiosis protocol across all supported networks, analyzes it, and displays the status of cross-chain operations.

Stuck: What Does It Mean?

The "Stuck" status on a cross-chain swap indicates that the operation is taking longer than usual but is still likely to be completed.

However, if the operation cannot be completed, it will be reverted automatically or manually, depending on when it was initiated:

• After February 9, 2025: Cross-chain swaps labeled "Stuck" are automatically reverted within 12 hours.

• Before February 8, 2025: You will need to manually revert the swap by following this guide: Stuck Transactions

Support

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