Uniswap — how to use the decentralized exchange
What you need before swapping on Uniswap
- Your own crypto wallet whose keys you hold, for example a phone app or a browser extension. The article hot vs cold crypto wallet explains how such wallets differ. For swaps on websites, set up a separate wallet with a small amount, and never connect your savings wallet to them.
- The network coin to pay the fee, that is, the network's own crypto; on the Ethereum network this is ETH. The article what is gas explains why a swap will not go through without it.
- The contract address of the token you plan to receive, taken from the project's official website.where to check: the project's official website, the section with smart contract addresses
How to swap tokens on Uniswap step by step
- Open the Uniswap app at an address you typed yourself or saved in your bookmarks. where to check: the official app address is listed on uniswap.org Do not trust links from ads, emails or messages.
- Connect your wallet and choose the network your tokens are on.
- In the top field, pick the token you are giving and the amount; in the bottom one, the token you want to get1. If the list shows several tokens with that name, or the one you need is missing, search for it by contract address.
- Before confirming, look at the screen: how many tokens you give and get and how much you pay for the swap and for the network1. The lines "price impact" and "max slippage" are explained below.
- If you are swapping this token for the first time, the wallet first asks for an approve permission, without which the smart contract cannot take the token from your address2. What to check in the permission window, what Permit2 is and how to revoke a permission later is covered in the article staying safe when connecting a crypto wallet.
- Approve it in your wallet after checking the tokens and amounts in its window, and wait for the network to confirm it. The token you get arrives at the same address.
How Uniswap works
An ordinary exchange matches a buyer with a seller through a list of orders. Uniswap has no such list; liquidity pools take its place3. A pool is like an exchange machine with no cashier. It holds two tokens, put there by other users called liquidity providers, and the machine works out the rate by itself from how much of each token is left inside. In return, the providers earn a fee on every swap3. The machine itself is a smart contract, a program that runs inside the network and carries out set rules on its own. That is why Uniswap is called a decentralized exchange.
Anyone can create a pool and list their own token in it, with no need to ask anyone for permission3. As a result, fakes with the same names turn up on Uniswap next to real tokens.
Uniswap's core smart contracts cannot be upgraded once deployed. Nobody can stop them, reverse a swap or change the rules after the fact3.
The app and wallet that people most often use to open Uniswap are made by the company Uniswap Labs. They are an interface, a shop window in front of the smart contracts, and anyone can call the smart contracts themselves directly on the blockchain3.
What slippage and price impact are
While you are confirming a swap, other people are swapping in the same pool, and the machine's rate has time to move. Slippage is the difference between the price shown and the price at which the swap was executed, and the slippage tolerance (in the app, "max slippage") sets how much worse than shown the result is allowed to be. It is like asking a friend to buy something for you only if it has not gone up by more than a couple of percent. If the price rose further, the purchase does not happen.
In the Uniswap app the default tolerance is chosen automatically, depending on the network cost and the size of the swap, and you can enter your own value in the settings4. A large tolerance is dangerous. With a tolerance of 25%, you may get 25% fewer tokens than the screen showed4.
Price impact is the shift in the rate caused by your own swap. The more of a token you take out of the machine at once compared with its stock, the more each next unit costs3. If the app shows a noticeable price impact on a small amount, the pool has a small stock, which is a reason to check once more that this is the right token.
How to tell a real token from a fake with the same name
Any token can pick a name and a short symbol such as USDC. Only its contract address on the blockchain identifies a token for certain5. So compare the address shown in the Uniswap app with the one the project publishes on its own site, character by character.
If a token is not listed on major exchanges, the Uniswap app may show a warning next to it. Tokens found to be scams or to infringe trademarks are blocked by the app. Check the address even when there is no warning, because nobody reviews token quality. The app gets the data for its labels from third parties, and new tokens often have none6.
There are also trap tokens whose smart contract does not let you sell them. The scammer lures buyers in and then pulls their own tokens out of the pool, leaving buyers with something nobody will buy7. How such schemes work in general is covered in phishing and scams.
Uniswap fees layer by layer
There is no single "Uniswap fee". A swap costs money in three places, and the app shows the amount of each layer before you confirm1.
| Layer | Where you see it |
|---|---|
| Pool fee | swap screen |
| Interface fee | swap screen |
| Network fee | wallet window |
The pool fee is set for each pool, and it goes to the liquidity providers3.
Uniswap Labs may charge an interface fee for swaps in its app and wallet, taken in the token you receive8. The fee line on the swap screen shows whether your swap has one.
The network fee is the payment for the network to record your swap. You pay it in the network coin, it varies with the time of day, and what drives its size is explained in the article on gas.
Uniswap security and known cases
In July 2022 an attacker sent out a fake token posing as a Uniswap giveaway. A liquidity provider who tried to claim it signed an operation with a malicious smart contract and lost more than 7,500 ETH. Uniswap's founder Hayden Adams said the protocol itself was not hacked9. Be wary of tokens that appear in your wallet by themselves and of links promising free crypto, and treat any request for your seed phrase as a scam10.
Who Uniswap suits and who it does not
It is a fit for those who already keep crypto in their own wallet and want to swap one token for another without signing up or handing their funds to an intermediary. It also helps with tokens that ordinary exchanges do not list, provided you have checked the contract address yourself.
To buy crypto with money for the first time, start on an ordinary exchange instead; the guide how to buy crypto covers the steps. Uniswap is also inconvenient if you need a support team that can fix a mistake for you. Here you alone are responsible for the token address, the network and the signature. The page how to choose a crypto exchange explains how to compare exchanges on neutral points.
Where to check current Uniswap details
The Uniswap app shows the list of networks and the fee for your swap.
Pool rates and decisions on the protocol's share are published on the voting site.
Token labels and the current rules on Uniswap Labs fees are described in the help center.
More detail on governance, fees and cross-network swaps
Holders of the UNI token change Uniswap's rules by vote, within set limits. All they can do is switch on a share of fees for the protocol, that is, for Uniswap, and only within limits fixed in advance3. The UNI profile explains the token and how voting with it works.
Since December 2025, after the vote on the UNIfication package, part of the pool fee goes to the protocol and is spent on burning UNI tokens11. You pay the same as before, because the protocol's share was carved out of the providers' fee12. In the same package Uniswap Labs promised to drop the interface fee in its app, wallet and API12, yet on 30.10.2026 the Uniswap help center still describes this fee for some pairs8.
Token labels work like this. There is no warning if a token trades on a major US exchange or, occasionally, if Uniswap Labs has approved it. An information label goes to tokens that are swapped often on Uniswap, and the rest carry no label6.
The Uniswap app can swap a token on one network for a token on another in a single action, for example ETH on the Ethereum network for USDC on the Base network. As of 30.10.2026, the move between networks is handled by the Across bridge, a service that moves a token from one network to another. Its fee is included in the quote the app shows before you confirm, and such a swap takes longer than usual13. See the help center for which networks it works between.
In 2024 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent Uniswap Labs a notice of a possible lawsuit, and in February 2025 it closed the investigation with no action against the company ⚖️14. The investigation concerned the company that makes the interface, and it had no effect on the tokens in your wallet.
