# Overview An **Automated Market maker (AMM)** is a protocol that runs on decentralized exchanges (DEX), that takes away the order book that exists on traditional exchanges, where liquidity is provided by buyer and seller orders, and replaces it with liquidity pools, a shared pot of tokens. AMMs help new DEXs who would be faced with a small number of buyers and sellers trading on a regular basis – or low liquidity – early on in their existence. An AMM works similarly to an order book exchange in that there are trading pairs – for example, ETHW/USDT. However, you don’t need to have a counterparty (another trader) on the other side to make a trade. Instead, you interact with a smart contract that “makes” the market for you. Zergswap is the 1st open-source and audited AMM-based decentralized crypto trading protocol on EthereumPoW. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.zergswap.com/overview.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.