Paying for a trade · startupos

Every trade runs from your own wallet, and you confirm it there. This page covers what you can pay with, what your wallet asks you to confirm, and what to check first. For how prices move, see Trading and pricing.

What every trade guarantees

Non-custodial. Your money moves from your wallet into the trade you confirm. StartupOS never holds it.
You see the result first. The panel shows You receive and Min received before you confirm.
Your price limit holds. If the price moves past your slippage setting, the trade cancels itself and nothing is traded.
Paying with ETH needs no approval. Approvals only come up when a trade spends a token.

Paying with ETH

Most tokens trade against ETH: you pay in ETH, and a sale pays out ETH.

Some tokens trade against another coin, their pair currency, such as USDG. You can often still pay with ETH. How it works depends on where the token trades.

Where the token trades	Buy with ETH	Sell for ETH
A Uniswap V4 pool (every Instant token, and curve tokens that graduated there)	One transaction	One transaction
Its bonding curve	One transaction or two steps	Not offered
A Uniswap V3 pool (a curve token launched on mainnet before October 18, 2026, after graduation)	Not offered	Not offered

On the test network, paying with ETH for a token paired with another coin does not work. See Network and addresses.

In a Uniswap V4 pool: one transaction

The trade panel shows Pay with ETH beside Pay with USDG (or the token's own pair). On Sell, the same choice reads Receive ETH and Receive USDG. Your ETH is swapped into the pair currency and buys the token in the same transaction. A sale for ETH runs the same way in reverse.

It starts where it makes sense. If you hold none of the pair currency, or not enough for the amount, the panel starts on ETH. If you hold enough, it starts on the pair currency, which saves an extra swap and its fee.
Switching clears the amount, because the number means something different in each currency.
The route is named. A line under the choice shows it, for example via Uniswap: ETH → USDG → TOKEN.
The extra swap costs a little. It has its own Uniswap pool fee and price impact. The breakdown shows Uniswap fee, Price impact and Total fees before you confirm.
It only appears when a route works. The app tests the route before offering it. When there is none, the panel says You cannot pay in ETH here, and the (i) beside it gives the reason. You then need the pair currency itself.

On a bonding curve: buying only

On a curve token paired with another coin, Buy shows Pay with ETH beside Pay with USDG (or the token's own pair). It starts on the pair currency, and offers Pay with ETH instead when you do not hold enough. The box that opens shows one of two ways to pay:

Buy with ETH: one transaction. Enter an amount of ETH and press Buy with ETH. Your ETH is swapped into the pair currency and buys the token in the same transaction, so you never hold the pair currency. If the curve has less left to sell than your ETH would buy, only the ETH needed is sent and the rest stays in your wallet.
Pay with ETH, 2 steps. First enter an amount of ETH and press Get USDG. The swap sends USDG to your own wallet, so if you stop there you simply hold USDG. The panel then switches to Pay with USDG and fills in the amount the swap delivered. Approve it in your wallet, then confirm the buy.

This is for buying only. Selling a curve token pays out its pair currency, so there is no Receive ETH on a curve. To end up with ETH, swap the pair currency for ETH afterwards, for example on Uniswap.

Paying with another coin

Where StartupOS offers it, Buy on a token in a Uniswap V4 pool also has a Pay with another coin… list. Pick a coin you hold, such as USDG or a stock token. The trade swaps it on Uniswap into what the pool takes and buys the token, all in one transaction.

Buys only, on V4-pool tokens only. Curve tokens take ETH or their pair currency.
The route and its fees show first. The line under the list names every pool the coin passes through, and the breakdown shows the Uniswap fee and price impact.
It needs a deep enough route. If no Uniswap route can take your amount, the panel says so. Try a smaller amount or another coin.
The coin is spent from your wallet, so the approvals below apply.
To go back, pick Back to ETH (or your pair) at the top of the same list.

Approvals and signatures

A trade that spends a token needs your permission first: every sale, and any buy paid with the pair currency or another coin. How your wallet asks depends on where the token trades.

Tokens in a Uniswap V4 pool

Wallets that can batch get one confirmation. The approvals and the trade arrive together and run as one transaction, so either all of it happens or none of it does. The approvals cover exactly this trade's amount, and nothing stays approved afterwards. MetaMask's smart account and Coinbase Smart Wallet can do this. MetaMask may ask, inside that same confirmation, to switch to a smart account. If you decline, the trade goes step by step instead.

Other wallets go step by step. Rabby, for example, cannot batch. The first time you trade a token, your wallet asks three times:

Approve the token for Permit2, Uniswap's approval contract. This is a transaction, once per token. If you have used the token with Permit2 before, for example on Uniswap, this step may be skipped.
Sign a message that lets the Uniswap router use it. It costs no gas.
Confirm the trade.

One Permit2 signature covers that token for 30 days, so later trades ask only for the trade.

While a trade runs, the panel shows its steps: Approve, Check and Confirm. A one-confirmation trade has no Approve step. Check tests the trade against the chain before you are asked to confirm it, so a trade that would fail is explained instead of sent.

Bonding curves and Uniswap V3 pools

Your wallet asks twice: approve this trade's amount, then confirm the trade. The trade uses the approval up, so the next one asks for both again. This is the same for every wallet, including ones that can batch.

Before you confirm

Check the token. Compare the contract address with the one on the token page. Names and tickers can be copied.
Check what you pay with. The amount field names the currency: ETH, the pair currency or another coin.
Read Min received. It is the least you will get at your slippage setting.
On a route through ETH or another coin, read Price impact and Total fees. If the panel warns about price impact, a smaller amount gets a better price.
Match your wallet to the panel. Your wallet should show Robinhood Chain and the trade you set up.
Only sign what you started. Apart from the sign-in after you connect, a signature request should only appear while you are trading in the panel. Reject any you did not expect.
Keep some ETH for gas, whatever you pay with.

If it does not go through

Not enough… The button names the currency you are short of. Lower the amount or top up.
Updating the quote. The price was being read again. Wait a moment and press again.
The price moved past your slippage limit. Try again, or raise slippage a little.
The approval for this trade ran out. Press again to approve it.
Your wallet could not send this coin. Check your balance. The issuer of a stock token can also pause it for a while.
We could not confirm your trade. It may still go through. Check your wallet's activity before trying again, so you do not trade twice.

For other failures, see Trading and pricing.