You have Phantom installed, some SOL in it, and the wallet connected. Here is the whole loop, start to finish.
Finding a coin
Press ⌘K (or Ctrl K), or click the search bar. You can type a name, or paste a contract address, the long string of letters and numbers that identifies one specific coin.
Names are not unique. Addresses are.
Anyone can make a coin called BONK. Only one address is the real one. If someone sends you a coin to buy, use their address, not the name, and check it matches somewhere else too.
Reading the page before you buy
- Market cap, how big it already is. Ask yourself what it would take to double from here.
- Liquidity, how much you can sell without wrecking the price. Under about $20k, treat any real position as hard to exit.
- Holders, how many wallets own it. A few dozen holders means a handful of people control the price.
- Recent trades, the live tape underneath the chart. All green and no red can mean momentum, or one bot trading with itself.
Buying
- 1Press BuyThe green key on the right. It swaps SOL for the coin.
- 2Type an amount in SOLStart small enough that losing it wouldn’t bother you. Genuinely.
- 3Check the estimateIt shows roughly how many coins you get. If the price impact looks alarming, the pool is too thin for the size you are trying, reduce it.
- 4Approve in PhantomA popup appears. Read it, approve it. A second or two later the coin is in your wallet.
Selling
Same panel, red key. Sell part or all of it. You get SOL back, which you can keep, trade again, or send to an exchange to cash out.
Decide your exit before you enter
Pick the number where you take profit and the number where you cut the loss, before you buy. In the moment, everyone talks themselves into holding a little longer, in both directions.
Everything you own shows up under Your coins & trades in the wallet menu, with what you paid and whether you’re up or down.