”Slippage exceeded” / trade reverted
Cause: price moved past your slippage cap between quote and execution. The #1 failure on volatile tokens — and it’s the protection working, refusing a fill worse than you authorized. Fix:- Retry — on choppy pools the next attempt often lands.
- Raise slippage in Transaction Settings consciously (20–30% is realistic in the trenches).
- Reduce size — your own order might be the price impact.
- Honest check: if it keeps outrunning 30% slippage, you’re chasing. See the FOMO test.
Transaction timed out / never confirmed
Cause: network congestion — your transaction didn’t get processed in time. Common during major launches and meta frenzies. Fix:- Check the transaction status in your history before retrying — don’t double-buy.
- Raise the priority fee and retry.
- If MEV protection is on, private routing can add a beat during congestion — for tiny fast punts consider whether you need it; for size, keep it on and accept the beat.
”Insufficient balance” (but I have money)
Causes & fixes:- Balance on the other chain — buys draw from the USDC balance of the token’s chain. Bridge USDC over first: USDC Balance & Bridge.
- Gas reserve — you need a sliver of the native token for network fees.
- Open limit orders reserving balance — check the Orders tab.
“Can’t sell” a token
Causes, in order of likelihood:- Honeypot — the token was designed unsellable. Check the Security Audit strip and sell tax on the token page. If sell tax is 99%, the exit was never real. This money is a tuition payment — convert it to a rule.
- Liquidity gone — the pool was drained (rug). Nothing to sell into.
- Slippage too tight for a collapsing price — if the token is real but dumping, raise slippage and accept the hit; a bad exit beats no exit in a rug.
Limit order didn’t fire
Causes:- Price gapped through your trigger too fast for on-chain execution (violent dumps) — the order fired but filled at the next executable price, or reverted on slippage.
- Order was already cancelled/expired.