Orca is Solana's second-largest DEX by volume and the cleanest interface for concentrated liquidity market making. Its Whirlpools product — Solana's equivalent of Uniswap v3 — gives LPs fine-grained control over their capital deployment.
What are Whirlpools?
Whirlpools are Orca's concentrated liquidity pools. Like Uniswap v3, you choose a price range for your position. Capital earns fees only when price is within your range.
This is more capital-efficient than traditional AMMs but requires active management. When price moves outside your range, the position earns nothing and needs to be repositioned.
Swapping on Orca
- Go to orca.so
- Connect Phantom, Solflare, or any Solana wallet
- Select input and output token
- Orca routes through its own Whirlpools and can access other Solana liquidity venues
- Confirm the swap
Fees are $0.0001–0.001 per transaction on Solana. Practical cost is negligible.
Providing Liquidity on Whirlpools
- Go to orca.so → Pools
- Search for a pool (e.g., SOL/USDC)
- Click Open Position
- Set your price range — use the current price as a midpoint, then decide how wide
- Enter deposit amounts and confirm
Price range strategies:
- Narrow range (±5–10%) — Highest fee earnings while in range, rebalance frequently in volatile markets
- Medium range (±20–50%) — Balanced approach for active pairs
- Full range — Equivalent to old AMM model, always earns, lowest capital efficiency
Fee Tiers
Orca pools have different fee tiers:
- 0.01% — Stable pairs (USDC/USDT), very tight spreads
- 0.05% — Major pairs (SOL/USDC), moderate volume
- 0.30% — Standard volatile pairs
- 1.00% — Long-tail tokens, high volatility
Higher fees compensate for greater impermanent loss risk in volatile pairs.
ORCA Token
ORCA is Orca's governance and utility token. It's distributed through:
- Trading fee revenue sharing (a portion goes to ORCA stakers)
- Liquidity mining incentives on select pools
ORCA can be staked to participate in governance votes on protocol parameters.
Orca vs. Raydium
| Feature | Orca | Raydium | |---|---|---| | Pool type | CLMM (Whirlpools) | AMM, CLMM, CPMM | | Interface | Cleaner, simpler | More complex, more options | | Volume share (2026) | ~30% Solana AMM | ~60% | | Farming rewards | ORCA | RAY | | Order book | No | Yes (OpenBook) | | Pool selection | Curated | Wider, including new launches |
When to use Orca: Cleaner interface for CLMM positions, stablecoin pairs, if you prefer a simpler experience.
When to use Raydium: More pools including new token launches, RAY farming incentives, access to order book liquidity.
Most active Solana liquidity providers use both depending on available incentives.
Managing Out-of-Range Positions
When price moves outside your range:
- Your position is single-sided (fully in the token that underperformed)
- You earn zero fees
- Options: close and reopen at current price, or wait for price to reenter your range
Many LPs use automated rebalancing via third-party managers (Kamino Finance on Solana automates Whirlpool rebalancing).