# Intent-Based Trading

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**Publisher:** Decentralized Finance Publication

## Definition

A trading model where users sign a desired outcome (an intent) — e.g. “swap X for at least Y” — and solvers compete to fill it optimally. Also searched as intent trading or intent settlement. Protocols such as CoW Protocol use intents to reduce MEV versus sending a raw swap straight to the public mempool.

## Related reading

- [CoW Protocol Overview](https://decentralized-finance.io/article/cow-protocol/)

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Canonical: https://decentralized-finance.io/glossary/intent-based-trading/