Your first trade with the USDT already sitting on your exchange
Most people who end up here have the same starting point: some USDT or USDC parked on an exchange, doing nothing in particular. This walks through what it takes to turn that into a US stock token, and what is worth checking along the way.
What you need first
Two things, and nothing else:
- A MetaMask wallet. DollarParking has no sign-up and no account. Connecting your wallet is the whole of it.
- USDT or USDC in that wallet, on Ethereum. Not on the exchange — in the wallet you control.
That second point is the step people skip. An exchange balance is a number in the exchange's database; a wallet balance is yours. Everything below assumes you have already withdrawn to your own MetaMask address.
Moving your funds out of the exchange
Withdraw USDT or USDC from your exchange to your MetaMask address, on the Ethereum network. Two habits worth keeping:
- Send a small test amount first. Confirm it lands, then send the rest. Every experienced person you know does this, and it costs one extra withdrawal fee.
- Check the network before you confirm. Exchanges list several networks for the same token, and a withdrawal sent on the wrong one does not simply bounce back.
Connecting and placing the order
Open DollarParking, connect MetaMask, and pick a stock. Enter the amount you want to spend, and you will see what you get before anything is signed.
When you confirm, MetaMask asks you to sign a message — not to send a transaction. That signature is your order: it says what you are willing to trade, at what terms, and until when. It is only valid for a short window, so if you leave the screen open and come back later, expect to sign a fresh one.
Read what MetaMask shows you before you sign. That habit matters far more on the day something is wrong than on the many days everything is fine.
After the trade
Your token shows up in the app's holdings list, and in MetaMask too — it is in your wallet, not in an account we keep for you. That is worth understanding plainly: we cannot move it, and we cannot restore it if you lose access to the wallet. Whatever backup you made when you created MetaMask is the backup.
If you want to sell later, the flow runs the same way in reverse.
A few things people ask afterwards
Does the price follow the real stock? Yes — the token tracks the underlying stock's price. The number you see is what you are trading against. It isn't the actual share, though: there are no shareholder rights, and prices can fall, so you can lose money.
Can I trade outside US market hours? You can. Terms differ when the underlying market is closed, and the order screen shows you the difference before you sign rather than after.
Do I need to keep the app open? No. Once the order is signed and filled, the token is in your wallet whether the app is open or not.