Meme coin snipers and bots: what they are and how to protect yourself

If you've ever bought a new coin a minute after launch and watched it drop 40% straight away, you've probably met a sniper. Here's how they work and how not to be on the other side of their trade.

What a sniper does

Snipers watch launchpads and DEXs for new coins and buy automatically in the first block or seconds, at the lowest prices on the curve. When real buyers arrive and push the price up, the sniper sells to them.

Other bots you'll meet

• Volume bots: buy and sell back and forth to make a coin look busy.
• Copy bots: copy the trades of wallets that often win.
• MEV bots: place trades around yours to profit from the price move your trade causes. Keeping slippage tight limits this.

How to tell if a coin was sniped

1. Open the coin's first buyers. On sasa, the Who bought list shows the first 30 wallets, what they paid and what they still hold. See first buyers.
2. Look for several large buys in the first seconds, often from brand-new wallets.
3. Check whether those wallets already sold: a sniper that has exited is less of a threat than one still holding a big bag.
4. Check the holder map for linked wallets: snipers and bundles often overlap. See bundled launches.

How to protect yourself

• Don't chase the first candle. Many coins drop once snipers sell; buying after that shakeout is often safer.
• Keep slippage tight so bots can't squeeze your trade.
• Set a stop loss: see take profit and stop loss.
• Prefer coins where early buyers are many and small rather than few and large.