How to Add Liquidity on Polygon: Steps, Mistakes, and What Actually Happened

I paired 1,000 USDC with 10,000 RZC and added liquidity without fully understanding what I was doing. That 1,000 USDC eventually became 650. Here’s the honest step-by-step — including what nobody tells you about what comes after.

After creating RizeCoin on Polygon, the token existed but couldn’t be traded. A token without a liquidity pool is like a shop with no inventory — you can visit, but there’s nothing to buy.

So I added liquidity. I started on QuickSwap, then moved to Uniswap. I paired 1,000 USDC with 10,000 RZC — the ratio was mostly instinct at the time, which set the initial price at 0.1 USDC per RZC. That deposit made RizeCoin tradeable.

What I didn’t know was that providing liquidity for a new token is normally something you do after raising funds from a team or community. I did it backwards — alone, out of my own savings, before understanding the full picture. This guide is what I wish I had read first.

⚠️ Adding liquidity carries real financial risk.

Impermanent loss, bot activity, and low-liquidity volatility can all reduce the value of your deposit. This guide explains the process — not a recommendation to add liquidity to any specific token.

Contents

Before You Start — What You Need
QuickSwap vs Uniswap — Which to Use
Step 1 — Go to Uniswap and Open Pool
Step 2 — Select Your Token Pair
Step 3 — Choose the Fee Tier
Step 4 — Set Your Price Range
Step 5 — Set the Initial Price (New Pools Only)
Step 6 — Enter Deposit Amounts and Confirm
What Happened After I Added Liquidity
How to Remove Liquidity

Before You Start — What You Need

1. MetaMask connected to Polygon Mainnet
Check that your wallet shows “Polygon Mainnet” at the top. Not Ethereum, not any testnet.

2. Both tokens in equal value
Liquidity pools require both tokens deposited at equal value. If you’re adding to a RZC/USDC pool, you need both in your wallet. The current price determines the exact ratio.

3. POL for gas fees
Every transaction on Polygon requires POL for gas. If you don’t have POL yet, I covered the exact steps in this guide using MEXC.

QuickSwap vs Uniswap — Which to Use

I started on QuickSwap because it’s Polygon-native and well established. It works. I eventually moved to Uniswap because the interface was cleaner and easier to read — especially for managing positions and checking fee tiers.

Both work on Polygon. The steps below use Uniswap, but the process on QuickSwap is similar. If you’re just starting, try both and see which feels more intuitive.

There’s no absolute “better” option. Liquidity is sometimes deeper on one versus the other for specific pairs. For a new token you’re creating yourself, either works for the initial pool.

Step 1 — Go to Uniswap and Open Pool

Go to app.uniswap.org and connect your MetaMask wallet. Make sure the network selector shows Polygon.

Click “Pool” at the top of the page, then click “New Position.”

Step 2 — Select Your Token Pair

Choose the two tokens you want to pair. Common tokens like POL and USDC appear in the default list. For custom tokens like RizeCoin, paste the contract address into the search field.

⚠️ Verify the contract address before proceeding.

Fake tokens with identical names exist. Always confirm the address on PolygonScan before adding liquidity. One wrong character means a completely different token.

Step 3 — Choose the Fee Tier

Uniswap V3 offers four fee tiers. This is the fee traders pay when they swap through your pool — and what you earn as a liquidity provider.

0.01% — Stable pairs like USDC/USDT. Prices barely move.

0.05% — Major pairs like ETH/USDC with deep liquidity.

0.3% — Standard pairs. Most common starting point.

1% — Low-liquidity or volatile tokens. Higher fee for higher risk.

For RizeCoin I used 1%. A new token with a small pool has high price impact and high volatility. The 1% fee doesn’t fully compensate for impermanent loss, but it’s the appropriate tier for that risk level.

Step 4 — Set Your Price Range

This is where Uniswap V3 differs from older DEXes. You choose a price range where your liquidity is active. Your deposit only earns fees when the price stays within that range.

Full range (0 to ∞): Always active regardless of price. Simpler, less capital efficient. Good for beginners and tokens with unpredictable prices.

Concentrated range: Earns more fees when price stays in range. But if price moves outside, your liquidity earns nothing and impermanent loss is at maximum.

I used a wide range for RizeCoin because I was testing the pool and had no idea where the price would go. For a token you created yourself and are actively testing, full range or a very wide range makes more sense than trying to optimize.

Step 5 — Set the Initial Price (New Pools Only)

If you’re creating a pool that doesn’t exist yet, you set the initial price here. This becomes the starting market price for your token.

⚠️ The initial price matters.

Set it too low and arbitrageurs will buy your token cheaply before anyone else can. Set it too high and nobody buys.

I set RizeCoin’s initial price at 0.1 USDC per RZC — based on 1,000 USDC paired with 10,000 RZC. The ratio was mostly instinct at the time. Understanding the relationship between deposit ratio and initial price before committing would have helped.

Step 6 — Enter Deposit Amounts and Confirm

Enter how much of one token you want to deposit. Uniswap calculates the required amount of the other token automatically based on the current price and your price range.

Then approve each token and confirm the deposit. Up to three transactions total — two approvals and one deposit. Each requires a small POL gas fee. On Polygon, the total is usually under $0.05.

Once confirmed, your position appears in the Pool section. You receive an NFT representing your deposit — keep this, as you’ll need it to remove liquidity later.

What Happened After I Added Liquidity

The pool was live and RizeCoin was tradeable. That part worked.

What followed was the real education. I started with 1,000 USDC in the pool. By the time I had been through everything, that had become 650 USDC. Three things caused it.

Impermanent loss. As RZC’s price moved during testing, the pool automatically rebalanced. The combined value of my position dropped below what I would have had by simply holding both tokens. The math is exactly as described in theory — experiencing it with real money feels different.

MEV bots. When I repeatedly tested swaps — buying and selling RZC to see how the pool behaved — bots noticed. A small pool with predictable activity from one wallet is easy to front-run. Full story in the swap guide.

Scammers. Someone approached me offering to promote RizeCoin. I sent tokens. They sold immediately. The full story is in the scam article. The impact on the pool was real.

What I’d do differently:

Understand the deposit ratio and initial price relationship before committing funds. Don’t test swaps repeatedly from one wallet on a small pool — bots are watching. Learn to verify who you’re dealing with before sending anything to anyone.

Most importantly: providing liquidity for a new token is normally done after raising funds from a community or team. I did it alone with personal savings. That’s possible — but go in knowing the risks are higher and the margin for error is smaller.

How to Remove Liquidity

Go to “Pool” in Uniswap, find your position, and click “Remove Liquidity.” Choose what percentage to remove and confirm the transaction.

You receive both tokens back in the current ratio — which may differ from what you deposited depending on price movement. This is when impermanent loss becomes permanent if prices haven’t returned to your entry point.

How to Add Liquidity on Polygon (2026)