Buying your first memecoin (Solana)
Important warning
Memecoins are extremely risky. The vast majority lose all their value. Many are scams designed to steal your money.
Only use money you are 100% willing to lose.
This guide is educational. It is not investment advice.
Why Solana for memecoins?
Solana is popular for memecoins because:
- Very low gas: Transactions cost fractions of a cent
- High speed: Transactions confirm in seconds
- Active ecosystem: Lots of projects and liquidity
Prerequisites
- ✅ Phantom wallet installed (phantom.app)
- ✅ SOL in your wallet (for gas and for buying)
- ✅ The mindset of "this is money I'm going to lose"
Step 1: Get SOL
If you don't have SOL, you can:
- Buy on a CEX and withdraw to your Solana wallet
- Use Phantom's on-ramp: Phantom has an option to buy SOL with a card
To start, $20-50 in SOL is enough to experiment with.
Step 2: Find a memecoin
Why it's here and not on Binance
It isn't an oversight by the exchange: reaching a CEX is a process that takes months, and almost no memecoin gets there. What happens during those months, and who ends up selling to whom, is in the window before the listing.
Where to look
| Platform | Description |
|---|---|
| pump.fun | Memecoin launchpad on Solana |
| dexscreener.com | View tokens and their liquidity |
| birdeye.so | Solana token analytics |
| Twitter/X | Where the memecoin "culture" lives |
Warning signs (red flags) 🚩
Before buying, check:
| Red flag | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Very low liquidity (< $10k) | Easy to manipulate, hard to sell |
| Highly concentrated holders | A few wallets hold everything and can dump |
| No active social media | Abandoned project or scam |
| Unverified contract | Higher honeypot risk |
| Promises of a "guaranteed 100x" | Always a scam |
Basic verification
- Go to solscan.io
- Search for the token's contract
- Check the "Holders" tab
- If 1-2 wallets hold more than 20%, be careful
Step 3: Buy using Jupiter
Jupiter is the main DEX aggregator on Solana. It finds you the best price across multiple sources.
- Go to jup.ag
- Connect your Phantom wallet
- Under "You're selling", select SOL
- Under "You're buying", paste the token's contract address
Use the contract address
Don't search by name. There are many tokens sharing the same name (scams). Always use the official contract address.
- Enter the amount of SOL to spend
- Check the slippage (memecoins may need 1-5%)
- Click "Swap"
- Confirm in Phantom
Step 4: See your token
After buying:
- Open Phantom
- The token should appear automatically
- If it doesn't appear, go to "Manage token list" and add it manually
Selling your memecoin
The process is the same, just reversed:
- Go to jup.ag
- "You're selling": your memecoin
- "You're buying": SOL
- Swap
Honeypots
Some tokens are "honeypots": you can buy but not sell. The contract blocks sales.
If you can't sell, it's probably a honeypot and you've lost that money.
Full example
Goal: Buy $20 of a memecoin
1. You have 0.5 SOL in Phantom (~$100)
2. You find a token on pump.fun
- You check it has reasonable liquidity
- You copy the contract address
3. You go to jup.ag
- You connect Phantom
- SOL → [token address]
- Amount: 0.1 SOL (~$20)
- Slippage: 3%
4. Swap → You confirm in Phantom
- Gas: ~$0.001
5. Phantom shows your new token
Result: You have the memecoin.
Now it can go to 0, or go up. It will probably go to 0.Best practices (if you insist on this)
1. Only money you can afford to lose
Don't use rent, food, or savings money. This is gambling.
2. Define your exit before you enter
"If it does 2x, I sell half. If it does 5x, I sell everything."
3. Don't fall in love with the token
Memecoins have no intrinsic value. If you're in profit, consider taking it.
4. DYOR (Do Your Own Research)
Even if it's a memecoin, research it:
- Who created it?
- Is there a real community?
- Is liquidity locked?
5. Diversify the risk
If you're going to speculate, split it across several small tokens instead of putting it all in one.
The real numbers
The reality of memecoins:
| Out of every 100 memecoins | What happens |
|---|---|
| 90 | go to zero |
| 8 | lose between 50% and 90% |
| 1 or 2 | give moderate gains |
| 0.1 | do the "100x" everyone talks about — and you probably didn't sell in time |
Summary
- Memecoins are high risk, most lose everything
- Use Jupiter (jup.ag) to buy on Solana
- Always verify the contract address
- Check liquidity and holders before buying
- Define your exit strategy before you enter
- Only use money you're willing to lose completely
If you came looking for something else:Someone is going to send me crypto · I want to cash out to local currency · Start from the beginning