Trading on Ink in 2026: Every Tool That Supports It, Checked Tool by Tool
Last verified: October 17, 2026. Tool list re-checked against each tool's own channel: no change in who trades Ink since Maestro's post of September 16. Banana Gun's chain list confirmed with the team on September 17, then NEAR added on October 1, still without Ink. Other rows read in each tool's docs or chain selector on September 14; chain figures from DefiLlama and L2BEAT the same day. We have traded on Ink ourselves (August 24, 2026, amounts below). Referral links marked where present.
Already sold? Open BasedBot on Telegram (ref link, it pays us and costs you nothing)
Or keep reading: what Ink is, the tools and the token status are below.
The short version: Ink is the Ethereum Layer 2 incubated by Kraken. Until September 2026 it was mostly a rail for one product, Nado, a perpetuals exchange doing hundreds of millions a day while spot trading on the chain did a few million.
On September 14, 2026, Pump.fun announced Ink trading in its app, "with USDC, no bridging required". That is the first big memecoin app to open the chain, and the reason this page exists. Among the tools we review, BasedBot already lists Ink, and Maestro added it on September 16; Banana Gun, GMGN and FOMO do not. Tator, still in our incubator, lists it too, but we do not recommend a tool we are still testing.
Pick your door
What it cost us, on the day we did it
Done on August 24, 2026 done by us, Aug 24. What we have not done on Ink yet is Pump.fun: its "no bridging required" claim stays Pump.fun's word until we run it ourselves.
The tools, compared
| Tool | Type | Fee | Ink support | Source, dated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pump.fun | Mobile app | 0.45% app fee (0.40% with a code) plus 0.10% to 0.15% on EVM chains, Ink included, per its fees page (Oct 17) | Live per announcement, USDC, no bridge | Official X post, Sept 14, 2026 announcement |
 BasedBot | Telegram bot | 1%, cashback 5-25% | Yes, traded by us | docs.basedbot.app and chain selector, Sept 14, 2026 per docs; bridged and bought on Ink ourselves, Aug 24, 2026 verified in-app |
 Tator | Web + iOS, in observation | 0.80% spot | Listed, not recommended yet | Google Play chain list, updated Sept 1, 2026; still in our incubator, no verdict |
 Banana Gun | Telegram bot | 1% (0.5% manual ETH) | No | Not among Banana Gun's chains: nine confirmed by the team on Sept 17, 2026, then NEAR on Oct 1, still no Ink |
 Maestro | Telegram bot | 1% | Yes, since Sept 16 | Official post "Maestro arrives on Ink", Sept 16, 2026, on X and in its own announcement channel official; its homepage still listed 12 chains without Ink on Oct 17, five weeks later |
 GMGN | Terminal + bot | 1% flat | No | 14 chains counted in-app Oct 29, 2026, none of them Ink |
 FOMO | Mobile app | 0.5% (min $0.95) | No | 6 chains counted in-app Aug 17, 2026, none of them Ink |
Badges: verified in-app means we used it ourselves inside the app on that date; per docs means official documentation, listing or announcement is the source.
What Ink actually is
Ink is a Layer 2 on Ethereum built on the OP Stack, incubated by Kraken. Since June 24, 2026, Optimism runs its infrastructure under a program called OP Enterprise, with the Ink Foundation focusing on the ecosystem, per The Block.
More: Ink in numbers on September 14 (TVL, perps versus spot), and why Pump.fun is starting a scene, not joining one
Size, on September 14, 2026, per DefiLlama: about $164M of TVL, $171M of stablecoins, roughly 28,000 active addresses and a million transactions a day. L2BEAT rates it Stage 1.
Where the money moves: spot trading on the chain's DEXs did about $4.2M in 24 hours that day, most of it on Velodrome. Nado, the perpetuals exchange "by the team that brought you Kraken", did $383.6M in the same 24 hours. Roughly ninety times more. Until Pump.fun's announcement, Ink was a perps chain with a memecoin scene close to zero: InkyPump, the launchpad that has existed since December 2024, showed no volume on CoinGecko the same day.
That is the context for reading Pump.fun's September 14 announcement: Pump.fun is not joining a crowded scene, it is trying to start one.
The INK token: what is announced and what is not
The Ink Foundation announced a 1 billion INK token on June 17, 2025, with a fixed supply and an airdrop to come "after audits". As of September 14, 2026, no launch date has been published.
More: Ink Points are not a token, and what community accounts kept predicting
Kraken Pro runs an "Ink Points" program (Season 1 since April 2026). Kraken's own page says it plainly: Ink Points are non-tokenized and not redeemable, no cash value, per Kraken support. Community accounts kept predicting a token launch "between July and September 2026". None of those predictions came with an official source.
The practical rule: any "INK airdrop" with a date, a claim site or a snapshot is a rumor or a scam until Kraken or the Ink Foundation publishes it. When they do, this page will say so, with the date.
Starting on a young chain: the three rules
Everything from our new chain guide applies here, condensed into three rules.
- Fund through official routes only: Kraken withdrawals to Ink, the chain's documented bridge, or an app that funds the chain for you like Pump.fun says it does. Fake bridge sites appear within hours of any launch and search ads are how they find you.
- Contract addresses from primary sources only: the token project's official channels, cross-checked, never an address posted "helpfully" in a group chat.
- Trade like the infrastructure is beta: small sizes, wider slippage, profits skimmed to a wallet you control.
The custody rule applies double on a chain this young: only deposit what you actively trade.
What we will check next
A first trade on Ink through Pump.fun, with the real fee and whether "no bridging" holds. It lands here with its date, and the table above gains the in-app badge when it happens.
Try it
(ref link) This is a referral link: BasedBot pays us a share of fees at no cost to you. It is the door we would use on Ink ourselves; every tool in the table got the same row and the same dated check either way.
FAQ
Which trading bots support Ink chain?
As of October 17, 2026, three of the tools we cover trade Ink: Pump.fun's app, BasedBot, and Maestro since September 16. The sources, and the tools that do not list the chain, are in the tools table.
How do you buy tokens on Ink?
Two routes: fund BasedBot, bridge inside the bot and paste a contract address, or fund the Pump.fun app with USDC and trade Ink tokens there. What the first one cost us, to the cent, is in the section on our own trade.
Has anyone actually traded on Ink?
We did, on August 24, 2026: bridged from Robinhood Chain to Ink inside BasedBot, whose in-app bridge showed a 0% fee, 0.025 ETH sent and 0.024967 arrived, then bought a token on Ink one minute later without leaving Telegram.
What is Ink chain?
Ink is the Ethereum Layer 2 incubated by Kraken, built on the OP Stack. Since June 24, 2026 its infrastructure is run by Optimism under the OP Enterprise program.
On September 14, 2026 it had about $164M of TVL and around 28,000 daily active addresses per DefiLlama, with most trading volume on Nado, a perpetuals exchange, rather than on spot tokens.
Is there an INK token or airdrop?
Announced in June 2025, no date since. Kraken's Ink Points are not a token and cannot be redeemed, in Kraken's own words. Treat any dated airdrop claim as unverified.
How we're paid on this page: the review links above lead to pages whose outbound links may be referral links, always marked "(ref link)" there.
BasedBot, Maestro, Banana Gun and GMGN pay us a referral share through those marked links; Pump.fun has no link on this page (its own review carries our referral code); Tator is under observation and gets no recommendation here. Every tool in the table above got the same row and the same dated check either way.
New tools the week they launch. The settings and fees that quietly cost you money. Alpha I would tell a friend.
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