Thoughts on Creating a Meme Coin and What I Found Out

A few months back, I was thinking about how meme coins can make a lot of money, especially for the creators. So I decided to start my own meme coin.

I went with the Base network since Solana was running into some problems at that point. I considered using TON too, but there wasn’t as much money there. Base works with EVM, which means the tools used for Ethereum or other EVM networks would work here too.

Initially, I wanted the token to score 100 out of 100 on checkers. This meant I had to make a contract where I wouldn’t control it after launch, and I had to lock or burn the liquidity pool so people couldn’t pull any quick tricks on investors.

I came to learn that a good meme coin needs a website, Twitter account, and Telegram, along with the meme itself and plenty of images. After putting together the pool, you need to pay to have your logo and links shown on DexTools and DexScreener.

I opted for a stealth launch instead of a presale. A common practice is to put 100% of the tokens into the pool at the start and possibly keep around 7% for yourself.

So how does the developer profit if all the tokens are in the pool? They buy back some tokens right after launching the pool, when the price is at its lowest.

I planned to put all the tokens into the pool along with 0.4 ETH. If I bought back 0.4 ETH worth of tokens right after the launch, I would end up with 50% of all tokens. If I wanted 75%, I would need to invest 1.2 ETH worth.

The total expense for launching my meme coin, including creating a website, setting up the pool, buying back 50% of tokens, and paying for listings, came to around $5,300.

I found out that spreading the tokens across many wallets is better than keeping all in one place, as large amounts in one wallet can scare off potential buyers. No wallet should ideally hold more than 2% of the total tokens.

To make things look appealing on bubble maps (which indicate connections between token holders), spreading ETH across several wallets and then buying from each one on Uniswap is necessary.

For a successful token, you have to create buzz by buying tokens, then selling to profit, and simulating activity between buying events. It’s impossible to do this manually, so hiring a market maker is essential. I couldn’t afford one, so I chose to make my own market maker bot. I built a wallet generator and wrote a script for the initial buyback.

When I launched, sniper bots bought a lot of tokens in the first minute. I had to cancel that pool and set up a new one. On my second attempt, only two sniper bots grabbed small amounts. I ran my script to buy tokens from 100 wallets, then I burned the liquidity pool and paid for the listings.

Some users came in and bought a few tokens in the first half-day, but most sold afterwards, and the token didn’t grow any further. I worked on my bot to do wash trading to create more hype around it, but I realized that older tokens don’t get much attention with pumps. To grow my project, I would need to learn effective ways to advertise, which I’m currently not knowledgeable about and can’t afford.

Basically, it looks like you can’t simply launch a token and expect to make money without spending on ads. I’ve put my meme coin project on hold for now. I’d like to continue with someone who has experience in crypto traffic or promoting meme coins.

I won’t disclose the token, but I’m open to answering any technical questions in the comments. If anyone wants the market maker script or is interested in a partnership, feel free to message me on Telegram: akamitch

BE CAREFUL OF SCAMS: There have been many convincing scams appearing on crypto-related forums, including fake NFTs, fake credit cards, fake exchanges, and other scam services. These often get upvoted by bots, so be cautious and don’t rush into anything that wants you to send money or approve contracts quickly.

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Did you ever think that faking market activity to sell a token for more than it’s worth might not be the right thing to do?

From what I’ve seen, most teams just launch repeatedly with new identities, allowing them to reuse assets more than you would think.

@Reece
I understand that wash trading isn’t allowed on regulated stock exchanges.
But, I prefer less regulation and believe in the idea that “code is law”.
For me, all this crypto stuff with tokens, pools, snipers, and MEV bots feels like a game, similar to poker.
People who want fair play should just steer clear; crypto can be the wild west.

@Zaden
This feels more like you playing poker while being the dealer, and rigging the game to your favor. You’re cheating and scamming people out of money by artificially inflating the value of these tokens and then selling them to others.

@Rene
Do you think wash trading in crypto tokens is a unique thing?
I believe it’s pretty standard in the industry, and all market makers do this.

Zaden said:
@Rene
Do you think wash trading in crypto tokens is a unique thing?
I believe it’s pretty standard in the industry, and all market makers do this.

I’m not knowledgeable about the meme coin business and random tokens since I feel that 99% of them are scams, but you do your thing. I just wanted to point out that your poker analogy isn’t accurate.

@Zaden
Good discussion. Code is law. It’s ironic to see complaints in your post while similar posts about the Tornado Cash developers facilitating significant wash trading get upvotes.

You lost me when you mentioned creating a meme coin.

Good discussion. I don’t blame you at all. In a logical world, no one would buy meme coins. Buyers of meme coins should learn the hard way not to buy them. It may take a few years, but we will get there.

In the future, people will look back and wonder why they invested in coins that had no real purpose.

@Blayne
Don’t underestimate people’s desire to escape their problems. That’s why lotteries have been popular all our lives. It’s basically a scam that gives people a glimpse of a brighter future. I believe meme coins are here to stay.

@Tariq
Your comment got approval because of low karma. Thanks for being here to share your thoughts!

@Blayne
They are just gambling, that’s all.

But if you wait to buy after the launch, lots of bots will grab tokens and the price will go up instantly. How can I get my hands on some before it launches?

I’m curious to learn more about the contract. What features did you add or leave out, and why?

watchyourcoins said:
I’m curious to learn more about the contract. What features did you add or leave out, and why?

I kept it simple with basic features, since a straightforward meme coin doesn’t need much else.
https://docs.openzeppelin.com/contracts/5.x/wizard I just checked all the boxes, set the name, amount, and deployed through Remix.

There’s another way - focus on building a brand and community. Think about the long-term.

Thyme said:
There’s another way - focus on building a brand and community. Think about the long-term.

Approved your account due to low karma or not enough time on the forum.