Pre-Trade Fairness

Definition ∞ Pre-trade fairness refers to the principle that all participants in a financial market should have an equal opportunity to execute their trades without undue advantage given to others before or during the transaction matching process. In decentralized finance, this aims to mitigate issues like front-running, where malicious actors exploit information about pending transactions to profit at another’s expense. Achieving pre-trade fairness is critical for maintaining market integrity and trust. It ensures equitable access and execution conditions for all.
Context ∞ Discussions around pre-trade fairness are highly relevant in decentralized exchange and DeFi news, particularly concerning the prevention of Maximal Extractable Value exploits. Reports often highlight new protocol designs or sequencing mechanisms that seek to enhance pre-trade fairness, thereby protecting users from predatory trading practices. The pursuit of greater pre-trade fairness is a major focus for developers aiming to build more equitable and robust decentralized financial systems.