CoW Swap has opened time-weighted average price, or TWAP, orders to any externally owned account wallet, removing the previous requirement to create a Safe multisig before using the feature. The change, announced by CoW DAO, is live on swap.cow.fi across the decentralized exchange’s supported EVM-compatible networks.
The update gives ordinary wallet users access to an execution tool commonly used for large or recurring trades. A TWAP order divides a transaction into smaller pieces and executes them over a defined period, rather than sending the full amount to market in one transaction. That structure can reduce the price movement caused by a large order consuming available liquidity at once.
CoW DAO said users can place, modify and cancel TWAP orders directly from an EOA wallet, the standard wallet type behind accounts such as MetaMask, Rabby and hardware-wallet addresses. Funds remain in the user’s wallet while the order is active, according to the DAO, rather than being deposited into a separate trading account.
Large swaps face substantial execution costs
The feature arrives as on-chain execution costs remain a practical concern for wallets trading substantial amounts through decentralized liquidity pools. An academic study cited in the announcement, which examined more than 500,000 real trades, found that price impact and slippage represented roughly 77% of total trading costs for swaps exceeding $100,000.
Price impact refers to the way a trade changes the market price as it consumes liquidity. Slippage is the gap between the price a trader expects when submitting an order and the price ultimately received at execution. The two costs can rise sharply on token pairs with limited liquidity or during periods of abrupt volatility.
The same study found that, for one thinner-liquidity pair, price impact and slippage made up more than one-third of total trading costs on transactions between $1,000 and $100,000. Splitting these orders into scheduled executions gives the market more time to replenish liquidity between fills, although it also exposes the trader to price movements over the full duration of the order.
TWAP trading does not guarantee a better result than executing immediately. A token can rise or fall while an order is being filled, leaving the final average price above or below the initial quote. Its main use is to avoid making the whole trade dependent on liquidity and pricing at a single instant.
Wallet-based controls replace the Safe requirement
Before this rollout, CoW Swap’s TWAP system required users to set up a Safe smart-account wallet. Safes are commonly used by DAOs and teams that need multiple parties to approve transactions, but the setup can be unnecessarily complex for an individual who wants to schedule a token conversion or recurring purchase.
The EOA integration lowers that operational barrier while retaining user-set execution constraints. CoW DAO said each TWAP fill follows the price-protection settings selected when the order is created, which means the protocol should not execute a portion of the order outside the trader’s specified limit.
That design places particular weight on the settings chosen at the start. A limit that is too restrictive may leave an order partially unfilled during volatile trading, while a wide limit gives the execution process greater flexibility but permits fills across a broader price range. Users planning larger orders must also consider token approvals, which define how much of an asset a protocol contract can spend.
The wallet-based feature could be useful beyond one-off large swaps. Traders can schedule regular conversions into stablecoins or automate a fixed recurring purchase on a weekly or monthly cadence. In those cases, averaging entries across multiple execution windows can reduce dependence on timing a single market move.
Ethereum Foundation and Buterin have used the tool
CoW Swap’s TWAP function has already been used for prominent ETH-to-stablecoin conversions. According to the supplied information, the Ethereum Foundation used the feature for a 5,000 ETH conversion in April 2026, while Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has used it for stablecoin conversions including one transaction exceeding 3,100 ETH.
Those examples illustrate the type of transaction for which scheduled execution is designed: converting a sizeable on-chain position without necessarily sending an order large enough to immediately move the available market. The utility is more limited for small, highly liquid swaps, where the cost and complexity of scheduling may outweigh the potential reduction in price impact.
CoW DAO said CoW Protocol has processed more than $200 billion in user trading volume since launch and has returned more than $1.5 billion in extracted value to users. The protocol uses batch auctions and competition among solvers—specialized entities that search for the best available execution route—to seek better outcomes than a single liquidity-pool transaction.
Security remains part of the trading decision
The rollout also follows a difficult security episode for the project. A domain attack in April 2026 drained as much as $1.2 million from compromised accounts, according to the supplied information. CoW DAO later approved a legal-fund reimbursement plan for affected users.
TWAP orders keep assets in the user’s wallet during their lifetime, but that does not eliminate wallet-security risks. A malicious website, compromised frontend or overly broad token approval can still create exposure. Checking that the site address is correct, reviewing transaction prompts and setting limited approvals remain relevant safeguards before authorizing automated trading.
By extending TWAP orders to standard wallets, CoW Swap is making a professional-style execution method available without requiring a separate smart-account setup. The practical test will be whether retail and smaller treasury users find the scheduling controls simple enough to use while setting price limits carefully enough to avoid stalled or unexpectedly executed orders.
Want to automate large or recurring TWAP-style trades on a centralized exchange? Explore advanced tools with this guide on trigger orders.
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