Educational only

Educational content only. Not financial advice. Trading crypto carries risk, including total loss.

Before you start

Two things need to exist before a trade can happen: a wallet with a backed-up seed phrase, and some funds on the network being traded on. Skipping the backup step is the single most common way people lose access permanently — there is no password reset for a seed phrase.

Decide on a test size before opening the terminal. The first trade with any new tool should be small enough that a mistake teaches a lesson instead of costing something that matters.

Step-by-step: your first trade

Install or open the wallet. Open GaurdWallet in a browser or the extension build. No account or email is required — the seed phrase is generated and stored only on the device used.
Fund the wallet. Send crypto to the wallet address on a supported network, or swap or bridge into the asset intended for trading before opening the terminal.
Open Trade. From the dashboard, open the Trade section of the terminal. It reads the balances already held in the wallet, with no separate deposit step.
Pick a pair. Choose the asset to sell and the asset to receive, and confirm both are on the same network — the terminal trades on-chain pairs, not off-chain ledger entries.
Review the quote. Read the quoted price, the estimated fee, and the minimum received before doing anything else. Treat the numbers on screen as the ones that matter, not a remembered price from elsewhere.
Confirm and sign. Sign the transaction in the wallet. The order routes on-chain and settles directly to the wallet address — nothing passes through a custodial account.

Pre-trade checklist

Before the first trade

0 of 7 checked — start small, then scale.

I understand nobody can reverse a signed transaction, including GaurdWallet.
I am starting with an amount I am comfortable fully losing while learning.
I checked that the pair and network shown match what I intend to trade.
I read the quoted price and minimum received before confirming.
I know the seed phrase is my responsibility and cannot be recovered by GaurdWallet.
I am not using funds I need for near-term expenses.
I have not shared my seed phrase with anyone or any tool.

After you trade

Once the transaction confirms, the new asset shows up at the same address — check the transaction hash against a block explorer if anything looks off. Keep a simple note of what was traded, at what price, and why; a non-custodial terminal will not keep trade history for you the way a custodial account statement does, though the chain itself is a permanent public record.

Common first-trade mistakes

Trading on the wrong network. A token symbol can exist on several chains; picking the wrong one wastes the transaction or sends funds somewhere unreachable.
Ignoring the quote details. The headline price is not the only number that matters — minimum received and fees change the real outcome.
Sizing the first trade too large. Learning the interface with meaningful money attached turns a UI mistake into a financial one.
Rushing the sign screen. The wallet's confirmation screen exists to catch mismatches between what was intended and what is about to be signed — read it every time.