How to trade on PancakeSwap? How does PancakeSwap work in 2026

More and more people want to use a Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) such as PancakeSwap. PancakeSwap is a DEX that runs on the Binance Smart Chain and is 100% decentralized. You can compare PancakeSwap with Uniswap, but Uniswap runs on the Ethereum blockchain in stead of Binance Smart Chain.

In this article we explain step by step how to trade on PancakeSwap, how it works and how to solve some errors.

Warning: Anyone can add tokens to PancakeSwap and these tokens are regularly hyped on social media and other channels. It is possible that the token you are interested in can quickly decline in value or worse, become worthless. Make sure you do good research into the project you are going to invest in and do not blindly rely on advice on social media. The use of PancakeSwap is of course at your own risk.

What do you need to trade on PancakeSwap?

• A smartphone.
• An account with Binance to buy Binance Coin. Click here to register, including a lifetime 20% discount on all fees.

Guide how PancakeSwap works

1. Download the Trust Wallet app on your smartphone, install the wallet and backup your key phrase.
2. Log in to Binance (or create a new account, we share a 20% lifetime discount on trading fees with our readers). Many blogs promise the discount, but don’t give it. You can easily check this during your registration.
3. Make sure you own Binance Coin and go to the Binance Coin withdrawal page. Check out how Binance work.
4. Open your Trust Wallet, click on Smart Chain and then on Receive. Copy the wallet address.
5. Go to Binance again, paste the address at the Recipient’s BNB Address, select Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and send your BNB to your Trust Wallet.
6. Give Binance a moment to send your BNB.
7. After you received the coins, check Trust Wallet if Browser is visible between Wallet and DEX. If not, go to Safari and type trust://browser_enable to activate the dApp Browser. Click on Browser.
8. Click on Pancakeswap.
9. Click on Connect (sometimes you are automatically connected and sometimes you are not).
10. Click on the gear and start with a slippage fee of 0.5%.
11. Enter at the top the amount of BNB that you want to convert to the desired token (do not convert your whole BNB holding, because you have to own BNB to pay the fees).
12. Click on Select a currency in the field below it, and find the desired token (click here if you cannot find your token).
13. Click on Swap.

If everything went well, you have now successfully converted your BNB into the desired token.

If you get the error PancakeRouter: INSUFFICIENT_OUTPUT_AMOUNT, increase your slippage fee. Some coins require a slippage fee of 7% to 11%. The higher this fee, the higher your costs. So, just play with the fees.

If you want to sell, you can convert your tokens back to BNB. You can do this simply by inversing the swap.

My token is not visible in the PancakeSwap list

Some tokens do not appear by default in the list from which you can choose on PancakeSwap. You must manually add the token using the Add button. Use our guide to easily add the desired token:

1. Go to: https://bscscan.com/
2. Search for the token name.
3. Go to the token page and copy the Contract code under Profile Summary.
4. Go to PancakeSwap, search for the contract code and the token will appear.
5. You can add the token using the Add button.

Frequently used contract codes:

• SafeMoon: 0x8076c74c5e3f5852037f31ff0093eeb8c8add8d3
• Orfano: 0xEF2ec90e0b8D4CdFdB090989EA1Bc663F0D680BF

Trust wallet does not show the token in the overview

It can sometimes take a while before the token is shown in the overview. How long this takes differs per user. If you are unsure whether the transaction went successfully, you can easily check if you successfully bought the token:

1. Open your Trust wallet app.
2. Click on Smart Chain and copy your wallet address (click on Copy).
3. Go to https://bscscan.com/, paste your address into the search bar and hit Search.
4. Scroll down a bit and click on the Token dropdown (in the Overview section).

You can see your tokens in your wallet, including the current value.

Sometimes it helps to restart your Trust Wallet app.

Trust Wallet does not show the value of my tokens

Trust Wallet does not show the value of all tokens, even though the token does have a value. There are several ways to check the value. One of them is:

1. Open PancakeSwap.
2. Enter the token at the top of which you want to know the value and click Max.
3. And at the bottom select Binance Coin.

You can immediately see the value in BNB of your holding.

Do you have any further questions about how to trade on PancakeSwap? Leave a comment, so other people can also benefit from the answer.