You place a Limit Order that is described as gasless, but your wallet may still ask you to approve a token or pay gas when cancelling. So where does the gas actually come from?

The key is that a DEX Limit Order is not one single transaction. Token approval, order creation, waiting, execution, and cancellation are separate actions, and each can handle gas differently.

On KyberSwap, for example, you can create a Limit Order without paying network gas. The order is signed off-chain and waits for a taker, who handles the on-chain settlement when a match is found. Gas may still appear when a token needs approval or when you choose an immediate on-chain cancellation.

Following the order from start to finish makes the cost much easier to understand.

Where Does Gas Actually Appear in a DEX Limit Order?

The easiest way to think about gas is to ask one question at every stage:

Does this action require a transaction from your wallet to be processed on-chain?

If the answer is no, the action can often be gasless. If the blockchain needs to process your transaction directly, network gas normally applies.

This is why calling a Limit Order simply “gasless” can be confusing without looking at the full lifecycle. The order itself can be gasless even though a separate approval or immediate cancellation still requires an on-chain transaction.

Why Am I Asked to Pay Gas Before Placing a Limit Order?

This is one of the easiest parts of the process to misunderstand.

You may open Limit Order for the first time, choose your token, and then see your wallet ask you to confirm a transaction with a gas cost. It can look like KyberSwap is charging gas to create the order.

In many cases, that transaction is actually a token approval, not the Limit Order itself.

Before a smart contract can use an ERC20 token from your wallet, it needs permission to access the amount required for the trade. If the KyberSwap Limit Order contract does not already have sufficient allowance, you first need to approve the token.

That approval is recorded on-chain, so it requires network gas.

Once sufficient allowance is available, you do not need a new approval simply because you want to create another Limit Order using the same existing permission.

This distinction also exists on other DEXs. Uniswap, for example, explains that a token may first require an on-chain Permit2 approval with a network cost, while signing the actual Limit Order afterward does not require another network cost.

So if your wallet asks for gas before your first Limit Order, check what you are approving. The cost may come from preparing the token for future settlement rather than placing the order itself.

Can You Place a KyberSwap Limit Order Without Paying Gas?

Yes.

Once the required token allowance is available, creating a KyberSwap Limit Order is gasless.

Instead of broadcasting a new transaction to the blockchain, you sign the trading instructions with your wallet. The signature records details such as the assets, amount, target rate, and expiry without immediately settling a trade on-chain.

KyberSwap describes its Limit Orders as signed off-chain orders that are settled on-chain only when the required conditions are met. Its current documentation lists Limit Order creation as gasless.

For the user, this solves a practical problem.

Imagine wanting to buy a token at a lower price later. If merely placing that instruction required an on-chain transaction every time, changing your trading plan could repeatedly cost gas.

With a signed off-chain order, you can define the price you want and let the order wait without paying network gas just to place it.

Does an Open Limit Order Keep Costing Gas While It Waits?

No. Simply leaving a KyberSwap Limit Order open does not create recurring gas transactions for the maker.

Once the signed order is available, it can wait for your target conditions without your wallet continually broadcasting transactions.

That matters when your target may take hours or days to reach. You do not need to keep paying gas just because the order remains active.

Your assets also stay in your wallet while the order waits. KyberSwap only settles the trade once a matching execution is found.

You should still keep enough of the required token and sufficient allowance available. Because the assets remain under your control, moving them elsewhere can affect whether the order is ready to settle later.

Who Pays Gas When a KyberSwap Limit Order Fills?

You do not need to return to KyberSwap and submit another transaction when your target conditions are reached.

KyberSwap uses a maker and taker model. The maker signs the trading instructions in advance, then a taker handles the on-chain settlement when the order becomes suitable to execute.

For the maker, this means the actual fill does not require another gas transaction from their wallet. KyberSwap’s current Limit Order content states that the taker pays the gas needed to settle the trade on-chain.

This is also why your order can execute while you are away from the market. You do not need to sit in front of the chart, notice that the target has been reached, and manually send the swap yourself.

Gas still matters to the execution process, however, because the taker needs to decide whether filling an order makes economic sense after considering network costs. This is one reason very small Limit Orders can sometimes take longer to fill.

The important distinction is therefore not whether gas exists somewhere in the transaction. It is who needs to submit the on-chain transaction and who directly handles that gas cost.

Can You Cancel a KyberSwap Limit Order Without Paying Gas?

Yes.

KyberSwap provides Gasless Cancel for users who want to remove an active Limit Order without sending an on-chain cancellation transaction.

This is useful when your trading plan changes and avoiding another network cost matters more than immediate on-chain invalidation.

There is one trade-off. If the order has recently been shared with a taker, the existing authorization may need a short period to expire. KyberSwap’s more recent Limit Order guide states that Gasless Cancel can involve a wait of up to around 5 minutes in those cases.

There are also situations where waiting is not what you want.

For example, the market may suddenly move against your original trading plan and you want to make sure the old order cannot execute while conditions are changing.

KyberSwap provides Hard Cancel for that case. Hard Cancel immediately invalidates the order on-chain, which means your wallet sends a blockchain transaction and network gas applies.

The choice is therefore straightforward:

Gasless Cancel is useful when you want to cancel without paying network gas.

Hard Cancel is useful when immediate on-chain cancellation matters more than the gas cost.

Instead of forcing every cancellation into the same model, KyberSwap lets the user choose based on what matters in that situation.

Does Gasless Mean There Are No Other Costs?

Gas describes the cost of processing an on-chain transaction. It should not automatically be treated as another word for every possible trading cost.

This distinction matters because a product can offer gasless order creation while still relying on blockchain transactions elsewhere in the execution flow.

For KyberSwap specifically, its current product documentation describes Limit Orders as gasless, slippage-free, and zero-maker-fee for users.

The practical exception remains network actions initiated directly from your wallet. A required token approval has an on-chain gas cost, and Hard Cancel requires gas because you are asking the blockchain to immediately invalidate the order.

So rather than asking only whether Limit Orders are “free,” it is more useful to identify which actions require an on-chain transaction from you.

How Does Gas Handling Differ Across DEX Limit Orders?

Gasless Limit Orders are not unique to one DEX. Several platforms use signed orders so makers do not need to broadcast a new transaction just to set a target price.

The details become more important at approval, execution, and cancellation.

Uniswap states that its Limit Order is submitted with a Permit2 signature that does not require a network cost once the necessary approval is in place. The order is then available to third party fillers.

1inch similarly documents off-chain signed orders where order creation itself does not require gas, while token approval may require gas and manual cancellation can incur a gas fee.

The broad model is similar. What differentiates the experience is which parts of the lifecycle the maker can complete without an on-chain transaction.

For KyberSwap, Gasless Cancel adds another gasless option after the order has already been created.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Need Gas to Place a KyberSwap Limit Order?

No gas is required to create the Limit Order itself. You sign the order off-chain rather than broadcasting an on-chain transaction.

If the token does not already have sufficient allowance, you may first need a token approval, which requires network gas.

Who Pays Gas When a KyberSwap Limit Order Fills?

The taker handles the on-chain settlement transaction. The maker does not need to send another transaction when the Limit Order reaches executable conditions.

Can I Cancel a KyberSwap Limit Order Without Gas?

Yes. Gasless Cancel lets you cancel without paying network gas.

KyberSwap also provides Hard Cancel when you want immediate on-chain cancellation. Hard Cancel requires gas.

Does an Expired Limit Order Cost Gas?

An order that simply remains open and reaches its expiry does not require a new maker transaction just to expire.

Any token approval you completed earlier is a separate on-chain action and has its own gas cost.

Know Which Action You Are Paying For

When your wallet asks for gas during a Limit Order flow, the useful question is not simply “Why isn’t this gasless?”

Ask what action the wallet is asking you to perform.

A token may need an initial approval. The Limit Order itself can then be created off-chain without gas and wait without recurring network costs. When execution conditions are met, a taker handles the on-chain settlement. If you later want to cancel, KyberSwap gives you a gasless option as well as an immediate on-chain Hard Cancel.

That makes the KyberSwap Limit Order flow easier to understand: approve when needed, place gaslessly, wait without recurring gas, let the taker settle, and choose how you want to cancel.

Once those actions are separated, the idea of a gasless Limit Order becomes much clearer.