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This guide walks you through placing your first token swap on Big Brain Ape. By the end, you’ll know how to select a trading pair, review a quote, configure slippage, and confirm a transaction — all from within the app’s Trade tab.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:
  • A Big Brain Ape account created and logged in
  • A wallet connected to the app (Solana or EVM-compatible)
  • Sufficient funds in your wallet to cover the swap amount and network fees

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Placing your first swap

1

Navigate to the Trade tab

Open the Big Brain Ape app and click the Trade tab in the main navigation. This brings up the swap interface where you can exchange one token for another.
2

Select your input token and amount

Click the token selector in the You Pay field and choose the token you want to sell — for example, SOL. Then type the amount you want to swap in the input field. The interface will immediately fetch a live quote for the selected amount.
3

Select your output token

Click the token selector in the You Receive field and choose the token you want to buy — for example, USDC. You can search by token name or paste a contract address for tokens not listed by default.
4

Review the quote

Before confirming, take a moment to review the quote details displayed below the swap fields:
  • Exchange rate — the current rate between your input and output tokens
  • Price impact — how much your trade moves the market price
  • Estimated fee — the combined network and platform fee for this transaction
  • Minimum received — the least amount you’ll receive after accounting for slippage
These figures update in real time as market conditions change.
5

Adjust slippage if needed

If the market is volatile or you’re trading a low-liquidity token, you may want to adjust your slippage tolerance. Click the Settings gear icon near the top right of the swap card, then update the Slippage tolerance value. A higher tolerance means your trade is more likely to succeed, but you may receive fewer tokens than quoted.
6

Click Swap and confirm in your wallet

When you’re satisfied with the quote, click the Swap button. Your connected wallet (e.g., Phantom, MetaMask) will open a confirmation prompt showing the transaction details. Review the details in your wallet and click Confirm (or Approve, depending on your wallet) to broadcast the transaction.
7

Wait for confirmation

Big Brain Ape monitors the transaction in real time. Once it’s confirmed on-chain, you’ll see a success notification at the top of the screen. The swapped tokens will appear in your wallet balance within seconds.

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Reading the quote

Understanding the quote breakdown helps you trade smarter and avoid surprises.
If the price impact on your trade exceeds 2%, the app will display a high-impact warning. This typically means the trading pool has low liquidity relative to your trade size. Consider splitting your trade into smaller amounts or waiting for better liquidity conditions before proceeding.
If the current market price isn’t where you want it, don’t settle for a bad rate. Use a limit order to set your target price and let Big Brain Ape execute the trade automatically when conditions are right. Learn more in the Trading Concepts guide.

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After the trade

Once your swap is confirmed, you can:
  • View the transaction in Trade History — click the Trade History tab to see a full log of your swaps, including timestamps, token amounts, fees paid, and transaction hashes.
  • Check your portfolio balance — navigate to the Portfolio tab to see your updated holdings and how the new position affects your overall portfolio value and PnL.