CFMM subsystem

NOTE: CFMM stands for Constant Function Market Maker. What this means is that when parties exchange kit for ctez and vice versa, using checker, checker tries to keep the product of kit and ctez within it unchanged (ignoring the fees of course).

This file gives an operational interpretation of the cfmm API inside the checker contract, and operations on it.

State

  • ctez: the total amount of ctez currently held by the cfmm contract.

  • kit: the total amount of kit currently held by the cfmm contract.

  • lqt: the total amount of liquidity held by the cfmm contract.

Additional fields:

  • kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block: the price of kit in ctez (kit / ctez) at the end of the previous block (as a ratio).

  • last_level: the last block that the cfmm contract was touched on (as a nat).

NOTE 1: The reason we store kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block and last_level in the state of cfmm is security. When the price implied by cfmm is queried to compute the drift derivative (see system-parameters.md), we don’t want to give the current price, but instead return the last price at the end of the previous block. This makes it just a little harder to manipulate these small price fluctuations.

NOTE 2: kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block is always computed as the amount of kit divided by the amount of ctez, so it can never really grow too much in size. Hence we use a lossless rational for its representation.

Initialization

When the system starts, all parameters are set to the lowest non-zero amount. Given that Checker gets deployed on the chain at level lvl, we initialize the parameters thus:

ctez                      = 1
kit                       = 1
lqt                       = 1
kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block = 1     # same as kit/ctez now
last_level                = lvl

Effectively, given that (a) no one can remove the first liquidity token and (b) how rounding works in the operations that follow, the contract will never be completely out of ctez, kit, or liquidity. So, setting the initial values to one removes the need for division-by-zero checks, and the first/non-first liquidity provider distinction that is e.g. adopted by Dexter. Of course, this price is only for the beginning, and it is expected that through trading it will eventually move closer to the real price.

General notes on the interfaces

  • None of the interfaces below refers to prices. Instead, we pass inputs, and minimum and maximum expected values for things (e.g. kit, ctez, liquidity, or time). If the criteria cannot be met the operations fail. This agrees with e.g. the API offered by Dexter.

  • All the following happen within the smart contract, which means that in the calculations below we often refer to level (the current block height), as well as now (the timestamp of the current block, as provided by this block’s baker).

Adding liquidity

First things first: if last_level < level, it means that this is the first time that the cfmm contract is touched in this block, so we update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block to the price observed now, and set last_level to the current height, so that we don’t update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block again in this block:

kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block = ctez/kit
last_level                = level

If last_level = level, then we don’t perform the update; this is not the first time we’ve touched the cfmm contract in this block.

Inputs

  • ctez_amount: The amount of ctez to be added to the cfmm contract.

  • max_kit_deposited: The maximum amount of kit to be added to the cfmm contract.

  • min_lqt_minted: The minimum amount of liquidity expected to be received.

  • deadline: The deadline; starting from this timestamp the transaction can no longer be executed.

If any of the following holds, the transaction fails:

  • If we are on or past the deadline (now >= deadline), the transaction fails.

  • If no ctez is given (ctez_amount = 0), the transaction fails.

  • If no kit is offered (max_kit_deposited = 0), the transaction fails.

  • If no liquidity is to be added (min_lqt_minted = 0), the transaction fails.

So, we calculate the amount of liquidity to mint and the amount of kit that needs to be deposited using the ratio of the provided ctez vs. the ctez currently in the cfmm contract:

lqt_minted    = lqt * (ctez_amount / ctez)    # floor
kit_deposited = kit * (ctez_amount / ctez)    # ceil

Because of this calculation, we need to know that the pool of ctez is not empty, but this should be ensured by the initial setup of the cfmm sub-contract. Also

  • If lqt_minted < min_lqt_minted then the transaction fails.

  • If max_kit_deposited < kit_deposited then the transaction fails.

  • If kit_deposited = Kit.zero then the transaction fails.

If all is good, we proceed with updating the parameters

kit  = kit + kit_deposited
ctez = ctez + ctez_amount
lqt  = lqt + lqt_minted

Note that the complete ctez_amount is consumed. However, kit_deposited might differ from max_kit_deposited. Hence, we return the leftovers:

kit_to_return  = max_kit_deposited - kit_deposited

Removing liquidity

First things first: if last_level < level, it means that this is the first time that the cfmm contract is touched in this block, so we update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block to the price observed now, and set last_level to the current height, so that we don’t update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block again in this block:

kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block = ctez/kit
last_level                = level

If last_level = level, then we don’t perform the update; this is not the first time we’ve touched the cfmm contract in this block.

Inputs

  • lqt_burned: The amount of liquidity to be removed from the cfmm contract.

  • min_ctez_withdrawn: The minimum amount of ctez to be received for the removed liquidity.

  • min_kit_withdrawn: The minimum amount of kit to be received for the removed liquidity.

  • deadline: The deadline; starting from this timestamp the transaction can no longer be executed.

If any of the following holds, the transaction fails

  • If we are on or past the deadline (now >= deadline), the transaction fails.

  • If no liquidity is to be removed (lqt_burned = 0), the transaction fails.

  • If no ctez is expected to be received from this transaction (min_ctez_withdrawn = 0), the transaction fails.

  • If no kit is expected to be received from this transaction (min_kit_withdrawn = 0), the transaction fails.

Otherwise, we compute how much ctez and kit should be returned, using the ratio of the provided liquidity vs. the liquidity currently in the cfmm contract:

ctez_withdrawn = ctez * (lqt_burned / lqt)   # floor
kit_withdrawn  = kit  * (lqt_burned / lqt)   # floor

Also, we check that the bounds are respected:

  • If ctez_withdrawn < min_ctez_withdrawn, the transaction fails.

  • If ctez_withdrawn > ctez, the transaction fails.

  • If kit_withdrawn < min_kit_withdrawn, the transaction fails.

  • If kit_withdrawn > kit, the transaction fails.

  • If lqt_burned > lqt, the transaction fails.

If all is good, we proceed with updating the parameters

kit  = kit  - kit_withdrawn
ctez = ctez - ctez_withdrawn
lqt  = lqt  - lqt_burned

and return the withdrawn amounts:

ctez_to_return = ctez_withdrawn
kit_to_return  = kit_withdrawn

Buying Kit

First things first: if last_level < level, it means that this is the first time that the cfmm contract is touched in this block, so we update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block to the price observed now, and set last_level to the current height, so that we don’t update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block again in this block:

kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block = ctez/kit
last_level                = level

If last_level = level, then we don’t perform the update; this is not the first time we’ve touched the cfmm contract in this block.

Inputs

  • ctez_amount: The amount of ctez to be added to the cfmm contract.

  • min_kit_expected: The minimum amount of kit to be bought.

  • deadline: The deadline; starting from this timestamp the transaction can no longer be executed.

If any of the following holds, the transaction fails

  • If the amount of ctez given is zero (ctez_amount = 0), the transaction fails.

  • If we are on or past the deadline (now >= deadline), the transaction fails.

  • If no amount of kit is expected (min_kit_expected = 0), the transaction fails.

Otherwise, we compute how much kit can be bought for the ctez_amount of ctez as follows:

price      = kit / ctez
slippage   = ctez / (ctez + ctez_amount)
kit_bought = ctez_amount * price * slippage * (1 - cfmm_fee)   # floor

Also, we check that the bounds are respected:

  • If kit_bought < min_kit_expected, the transaction fails.

  • If kit_bought > kit, the transaction fails.

If all is good, we proceed with updating the parameters

kit  = kit  - kit_bought
ctez = ctez + ctez_amount

and return the bought amount of kit:

kit_to_return = kit_bought

Selling Kit

First things first: if last_level < level, it means that this is the first time that the cfmm contract is touched in this block, so we update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block to the price observed now, and set last_level to the current height, so that we don’t update kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block again in this block:

kit_in_ctez_in_prev_block = ctez/kit
last_level                = level

If last_level = level, then we don’t perform the update; this is not the first time we’ve touched the cfmm contract in this block.

Inputs

  • kit_given: The amount of kit to be sold to the cfmm contract.

  • min_ctez_expected: The minimum amount of ctez to be bought.

  • deadline: The deadline; starting from this timestamp the transaction can no longer be executed.

If any of the following holds, the transaction fails

  • If the amount of kit given is zero (kit_given = 0), the transaction fails.

  • If we are on or past the deadline (now >= deadline), the transaction fails.

  • If no amount of ctez is expected (min_ctez_expected = 0), the transaction fails.

Otherwise, we compute how much ctez can be bought for the kit_given as follows:

price       = ctez / kit
slippage    = kit / (kit + kit_given)
ctez_bought = kit * price * slippage * (1 - cfmm_fee)   # floor

Also, we check that the bounds are respected:

  • If ctez_bought < min_ctez_expected, the transaction fails.

  • If ctez_bought > ctez, the transaction fails.

If all is good, we proceed with updating the parameters

kit  = kit  + kit_given
ctez = ctez - ctez_bought

and return the bought amount of ctez:

ctez_to_return = ctez_bought

NOTE: There are more than one ways to calculate things when buying and selling kit. Given that da amount of one quantity is given, what we do essentially computes first what should the return be for the product of quantities kept by cfmm to stay the same:

db = da * (b / (a + da))

and then keeps fee of that, thus returning db calculated instead like this:

db = da * (b / (a + da)) * (1 - fee)

Dexter takes an alternative approach, where the fee is (conceptually, at least) on the amount given. That is, the returned amount is

db = da' * (b / (a + da'))

where

da' = da * (1 - fee)

The two calculations give slightly different results, but hopefully that is not a problem.

Misc

  • cfmm_fee = 0.002