Trading on Ink in 2026: the Tools That Support It, Checked the Day Pump.fun Arrived
Last verified: September 14, 2026. Tool support read in each tool's docs, site or chain selector that day (dates per row below); chain figures from DefiLlama and L2BEAT the same day. We have not traded on Ink ourselves yet; when we do, this page will say what it cost. Referral links marked where present.
The short version: Ink is the Ethereum Layer 2 incubated by Kraken. Until this week 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; Banana Gun, Maestro, 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
The tools, compared
| Tool | Type | Fee | Ink support | Source, dated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pump.fun | Mobile app | Not stated for Ink | Live per announcement, USDC, no bridge | Official X post, Sept 14, 2026 announcement |
 BasedBot | Telegram bot | 1%, cashback 5-25% | Listed | docs.basedbot.app and chain selector, Sept 14, 2026 per docs |
 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 | bananagun.io lists 8 chains without Ink, Sept 14, 2026 |
 Maestro | Telegram bot | 1% | No | docs list 12 chains without Ink, Sept 14, 2026 |
 GMGN | Terminal + bot | 1% flat | No | 13 chains counted in-app Aug 19, 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. No Ink row carries the in-app badge yet. That changes the day we trade there.
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.
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 this week's news: 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.
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". September is nearly over and nothing official has come.
The practical rule: any "INK airdrop" with a date, a claim site or a snapshot is a rumour 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: 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), and 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. The same through BasedBot. Whether any Ink token gets real volume in the week after the announcement. Each check lands here with its date; the table above gains in-app badges as it happens.
FAQ
Which trading bots support Ink chain?
As of September 14, 2026: Pump.fun's app (announced that day, USDC, no bridge) and BasedBot (docs and chain selector). Tator lists Ink as well, but it is still in our incubator and we do not recommend it yet.
Banana Gun, Maestro, GMGN and FOMO did not list Ink on that date. Our beginner pick BonkBot is Solana-only.
How do you buy tokens on Ink?
Two routes. The classic: withdraw ETH or USDC from Kraken to Ink, or bridge via official routes, fund BasedBot, paste a contract address.
The new one, per Pump.fun's announcement: fund the app with USDC and trade Ink tokens inside it. We will report what that costs once we have done it.
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 pays us nothing; 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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