# Trade a token

Every token page has one ticket. On a wide screen it sits beside the chart; on a phone the **Buy** and **Sell** bar opens it as a sheet. The same ticket is in the Desk's Coin column and on the [Swap](chains-and-swap.md#swap) page.

## The ticket, top to bottom

**Quick buy and quick sell.** Signed in, two strips sit above the ticket: four buy sizes (0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 HYPE unless you changed them) and three sell shares (25%, 50%, All). One tap sends that trade through the same checks as the full ticket.

**Buy, Sell, Echo.** The Echo tab appears only on tokens that have an [Echo](echo.md).

**Pay with.** HYPE by default. Where a token's pool trades against another asset, you can choose HYPE or that asset. "Other chain" pays with money you hold on [another network](chains-and-swap.md).

**The amount.** In the paying asset or in dollars; the switch beside the box changes it. Four size chips, MAX, and "…" to set your own sizes. On a sale the box takes the token or dollars, with 25%, 50%, 75% and MAX.

**You get.** The quote: what this trade delivers now.

**The cost line.** Under "You get", the trade's real cost in dollars and percent, and the parts it is made of:

- **fees**: the token's own trading fee and the pool's;
- **tax**: a buy or sell tax, where the token has one;
- **opening fee**: an extra a new Signal v4 token charges in its first minutes;
- **price impact**: what the size of your trade moves the price;
- **gas**: the network's charge.

A quote better than the market price reads "ahead". A cost of 5% or more is marked.

**The button.** It says what it will do: "Buy SYMBOL", "Sell 25%", "Sell all".

**Details.** One row under the button opens the read-only detail: slippage, approvals and the route.

## Slippage and the minimum you get

A quote is what the trade delivers if nothing moves. **Slippage** is how much worse you allow it to land. The ticket turns that into a minimum: if the trade would deliver less, it does not go through, and only gas is spent.

Slippage is on **auto** unless you pick a number. Auto sizes itself from the token's own moves in the last fifteen minutes, never under 1% and never over 5%. You can pick 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 5% or 10% yourself; the choice is remembered on your device.

## Approvals

Selling a token through a pool needs your permission for Signal's router to move that token. By default a token's first sale approves it once and later sales need nothing more. Under **Details → Approvals** you can switch to approving the exact amount of each sale, and revoke any approval made from this device.

Read every wallet request before you sign it. An approval and a trade are two different requests.

## When the ticket will not send

The ticket refuses a trade that looks like a mistake and says why. Every refusal says whether anything left your wallet.

| What it says | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| "Not buyable: failed the safety check" | The token's [safety check](safety.md) found that money put in may not come back out. Buying is closed. Selling stays open |
| "caution: … Tap buy again to accept" | The check found something you should know. Nothing was sent. A second tap buys |
| "this quote is worth N% of what you put in. Not sending it." | The fill is half or less of what you would pay. Lower the size |
| "this market holds $X …" | Your buy is a large part of the whole pool, or more than it. A second tap accepts a large one; more than the pool is refused |
| "Opening fee N% right now" | A new Signal v4 token is inside its opening window. The fee falls to its base rate when the clock ends. It applies to sales as well as buys |
| "the price moved …" | The price changed between the quote and the send by more than your minimum allows. Nothing was bought or sold. Tap again at the new price |
| "This needs N HYPE. You have M." | Not enough HYPE. **Add funds** opens Add money |
| "Finding the best route…" / "No safe route proven yet" | Signal has not verified a way to trade this token yet. The buttons open by themselves when it has |
| "cancelled in the wallet, nothing sent" | You declined the request in your wallet |

A sale is treated differently from a buy on purpose: the safety check never blocks a sale, and a large sale is warned about but not refused.

## Instant trading

With a Signal wallet (email, Google or X sign-in), **instant trading** is on by default: Buy and Sell send the moment you press them, with no confirmation screen. Slippage and the price-impact check still apply. Sends, claims and launches always ask.

Turn it off with the switch in the ticket. Turning it back on takes two taps on purpose. A buy of a token that failed the safety check never sends, instant or not. See [your wallet](wallet.md#instant-trading).

A wallet you brought always confirms each trade in its own window.

## After the trade

"Bought N SYMBOL" or "Sold for N HYPE" is shown when the transaction has landed. If a send hangs, look up its hash in your wallet or an explorer before sending another. A network error is not proof that nothing was sent. More in [troubleshooting](troubleshooting.md).

## Trading tokens from earlier launch types

A token still on a **bonding curve** trades against its curve until its pool opens at the curve's target; the last buy on a curve can use less than you offered and return the rest. A **Classic** token, like a Signal v4 token, trades in its pool from the start: it never migrates. See [bonding curves](bonding-curves.md).