Imagine two liquidity pools on BitShares:

BTS/USD pool
USD/GOLD pool

While there's no direct BTS/GOLD pool, a trader could essentially create a synthetic BTS/GOLD pair by performing two swaps:

Swap BTS for USD in the BTS/USD pool.
Swap USD for GOLD in the USD/GOLD pool.

This effectively allows trading between BTS and GOLD without the need for a dedicated liquidity pool.

Benefits of Two-Swap Synthetic Pools on BitShares
Infinite Liquidity Pairs: Theoretically, any two assets on BitShares could be traded against each other as long as there's a path through existing pools.

This vastly expands the trading options without needing to create numerous dedicated pools.

Capital Efficiency: Liquidity providers only need to provide liquidity to individual pools, and the synthetic pairs emerge organically. This reduces the capital requirements for creating diverse markets.

Arbitrage Opportunities: The presence of synthetic pairs can create arbitrage opportunities for traders who identify price discrepancies between the synthetic pair and the actual market price of the assets. This can contribute to price discovery and market efficiency.
Challenges and Considerations

Slippage: Executing two swaps instead of one can lead to increased slippage, especially in volatile markets or with large trades.
Complexity: Designing user interfaces and tools to visualize and execute synthetic swaps seamlessly can be challenging.
Price Oracles: Accurate and reliable price oracles are crucial to ensure fair pricing and prevent manipulation in synthetic pairs.

Potential Implementation Strategies on BitShares
Smart Routing: Develop smart routing algorithms that can automatically identify the most efficient path for executing synthetic swaps, minimizing slippage and maximizing liquidity utilization.

Synthetic Pair Visualization: Create user interfaces that clearly display synthetic pair prices and allow traders to execute synthetic swaps with ease.
Price Oracle Integration: Integrate robust price oracles that provide reliable price feeds for all assets involved in synthetic pairs.

Brainstorming Ideas for Two-Swap Synthetic Pools on BitShares
Cross-Asset Trading: Enable trading between any two BitShares assets, even if there's no direct pool.

Market-Neutral Strategies: Allow traders to construct market-neutral strategies by simultaneously going long and short on synthetic pairs.

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Next up! A deep-dive on synthetic pool functionality!

Arbitrage Bots: Develop arbitrage bots that can capitalize on price discrepancies in synthetic pairs, contributing to market efficiency.