How to swap on a DEX

Last week, like any other, we discussed how much it is important to use DEXs. In that post, there were lots of people stated that they are going to try DEXs for the first time.

Although it may seem simple, but I know how much it can be intimidating when you try to do your first trade on a DEX; So in this post I am going to do a step by step tutorial on how to use a general DEX to do a simple swap.

First of all, you need a wallet that is compatible with most DEXs. Your best bet is to pick a wallet from the most reputable extensions for web browsers. These extensions are the fastest and most compatible non custodian wallets that you can use to interact with web applications, which are called dApps in crypto. dApp is a short for 'Decentralized Application'. A DEX, is the most common dApp in crypto, which is a abbreviation for 'Decentralized Exchange' . Because in this example I am going to use an EVM chain, I would recommend to you to use MM wallet (I fear if I state any name, my post would be taken down).

In this post, we are not going through how to setup a wallet. I assume, if you are reading this, you are able to create, or import your address on a extension wallet.

The first thing we are going to do, is to open a DEX web page in the browser, where we installed the wallet extension.

This would be a general look of any DEX

​

A general DEX

The first thing you need to do, is to connect your wallet by clicking on 'Connect Wallet' in the middle of the page, or 'Connect' on top right corner. In 95 % of the times, you can find a connect button on the top right corner of the page.

Safety tip 1. Always double check the address before connecting your wallet, or simply bookmark the page for future need.

Upon clicking on 'Connect' button, you would see a list of available wallets, including MM wallet. Choose your wallet, and a pop up from your extension wallet would ask you to connect your wallet. Do that, and you will see this

​

After connecting

If you are connected to the DEX, you should see either a part of your wallet address or your domain name on the top right corner. Also, the big button in the middle, should have changed.

Next to your wallet address, you see the selected chain. If you want to trade on a different chain, you can press on the arrow, and select your desired chain, then change the chain on your wallet too.

https://preview.redd.it/wtmtmmjdevib1.png?957&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b51bf6a246ff01e8ab93067dd2ead644706870c

1. Slippage : Always check it to be less than 0.5% . Don’t put it lower than 0.3% if you are in a hurry and market is volatile
2. The asset you want to sell
3. The asset you want to buy
4. The amount of your selling asset
5. The amount you will get after trade (it will be automatically filled)
6. The rate between two assets. You can change the equation by pressing on '='
7. Estimated gas that you have to pay for transaction (It can be as high as hundreds of dollars or as low as fraction of a penny, depending on the chain and the time you want to trade)
8. Swap or trade button
9. You can reverse the assets you want to buy and sell with this
   

If you click on the arrow next to number 7, you would see a box like this

https://preview.redd.it/7qwptt5fgvib1.png?963&format=png&auto=webp&s=a712a349945b32d8766732dd19c5b9b2f1ba706d

Network fees: Pretty much self explanatory

Price Impact: This is in relation with the liquidity of selected pair in that DEX. The lower the number, the better rate you will get.

Minimum Output: It is the least you get if rates changes in the last second, based on slippage

Expected Output: It is the amount you will get with current rates

Safety tip 2: Always check the rates before doing a swap.

Safety tip 3: Always check the addresses of the assets you want to buy.

Safety tip 4: Start small, and after a couple of trades, you will get the hang of it.

Notes: In order to do a swap, you need to have the native coin of that chain to pay the gas fees. If you are swapping the native coin to another token, you need to do 1 transaction (Swap), but if the asset you want to sell, in not the native coin, you have to approve that token first (a transaction with significantly less gas fee) then you can do the swap (2 transactions in total).

Safety tip 5: Always approve only the amount you want to sell, not all of that token.

I hope this was helpful. If you have any question, I would love to answer in comments.