Beyond Market Makers: How to Actually Read What’s Happening in Solana Memecoins
If you’ve spent any time trading memecoins on Solana, you’ve probably asked yourself questions like: “Why does this token keep recovering in almost the exact same way after every dump?”“How is there so much volume when there are barely any real holders?”“Why do a bunch of wallets buy at almost the exact same second?”“Is this a market maker… or just a bunch of bots… or the team dumping slowly?” Most people answer these questions with vibes, Twitter threads, or what they heard in a stream. The problem is that the real activity on Solana is much more layered than “there’s a market maker” or “it’s being manipulated.” This article is written for the people who actually trade these tokens — not just for on-chain analysts with five monitors. We’re going to break down the patterns you can actually see, explain them in plain language, and show you how to move from raw observation to a smarter interpretation without jumping to conclusions. 1. Why Solana Memecoins Are Different Solana is extremely fast and extremely cheap. That changes everything. On Ethereum, high transaction fees and slower confirmation times make it expensive to spam trades or run dozens of wallets. On Solana you can: Create a tokenAdd liquidityBuy with 20 different walletsSell small amounts over and overMove money between wallets …all in a matter of seconds and for almost nothing in fees. This environment creates a unique mix of: Professional market makers hired by bigger projectsAlgorithmic bots run by developers or private groupsSniper botsCoordinated groups of wallets controlled by the same peopleRegular retail traders The result is that charts and volume numbers often lie (or at least tell a very incomplete story). 2. The Most Important Rule: Observation vs Interpretation This is the biggest upgrade you can make in how you look at tokens. Bad habit (what most people do): “These 15 wallets all bought at the same time → this is a market maker.” Better approach: Observation (what you can actually see on-chain)Behavior (what pattern this activity forms)Hypothesis (what could reasonably explain it)Market Intent (what this might mean for the token’s price action) Example: Observation Wallet A sent 0.8 SOL to Wallet B, C, D and E. A few minutes later, B, C, D and E all bought the same token with similar size within 4 seconds of each other. Behavior Coordinated wallet activity + common funding source. Hypothesis These wallets are likely controlled by the same entity or are following the same strategy. Market Intent Possible artificial flow, liquidity management, or early accumulation by a coordinated group. Notice we never said “this is a market maker.” We stayed at the level of evidence. This way of thinking is much more powerful (and much harder to get wrong). 3. The Main Families of Behavior You Should Watch Here are the most important patterns, explained from beginner to advanced. A. Wallet Coordination (The Foundation) This is one of the strongest signals. What you look for: Multiple wallets funded by the same “parent” walletWallets created or activated in a very short time windowWallets that buy or sell almost the same amount at almost the same timeWallets that keep appearing together across different tokensChains of funding (A → B → C → D) Simple analogy: Imagine 12 people who all got money from the same guy, then all walk into the same store and buy the same product within 10 seconds of each other. That’s not random. When you see this repeatedly, you’re looking at coordinated activity. B. Launch Coordination (What Happens in the First Blocks) At token launch you often see: Token creationLiquidity pool creationMultiple buysSometimes early sells …all happening in the same slot or consecutive slots. This is frequently done with Jito bundles (a way to group transactions so they execute together). Important: Bundling itself is not automatically “manipulation.” Many legitimate launches use it to protect against snipers. The interesting part is the pattern of who is buying, how the wallets are related, and what happens afterward. C. Wash Trading & Artificial Volume Classic pattern: Wallet A buysWallet B sellsMoney moves between themThey repeat with similar sizes and timing The volume number on Dexscreener looks huge, but the number of independent economic participants is very low. Key metric to watch: Reported volume vs number of unique wallets that are not connected to each other. $1.2 million in volume with only 40 real independent wallets tells a completely different story than the same volume with 800 unconnected wallets. D. Algorithmic / Bot-Like Activity Signs: Extremely regular time intervals between tradesAlmost identical trade sizesActivity that never sleeps (24/7 with no human-like pauses)Same exact route through the same pools over and overVery low variation in behavior You don’t need to say “this is a bot.” You can say: “Algorithmic activity pattern is high — 87 trades, median interval 1.2 seconds, size variance extremely low.” That’s already very useful information. E. High-Frequency & Scalping Behavior Some wallets buy and sell within seconds or minutes, over and over. Look at: Average holding timeNumber of round tripsGross volume traded vs net position change Example: A wallet traded $48,000 worth of the token but only ended up with +1,200 tokens. That is high turnover with low net accumulation — classic scalping or HFT-style behavior. F. Liquidity Management Who is adding and removing liquidity, and when? Interesting patterns: Liquidity added just before a big buyLiquidity removed just before a big sellLiquidity changes that happen at the same time as certain wallet activityLiquidity concentrated in very few wallets This can reveal who is trying to control price impact. G. Absorption (One of the Most Important Patterns) You see heavy selling pressure… but the price barely drops… and buying keeps appearing on the other side. This often means someone is deliberately absorbing the sells (supporting the price). Later, when the selling pressure decreases, the price starts rising. The absorption hypothesis becomes stronger. H. Distribution Patterns Instead of one big dump (which destroys the chart), you often see: Gradual / “Ant” distribution Small sells spread over hours while retail is still buying. Stair-step distribution Price rises → whale sells a chunk → price keeps rising → whale sells again → repeat. Distribution into strength Selling while demand is still strong. I. Accumulation The opposite of distribution: Price is sideways or slowly decliningSelling pressure is highCertain wallets keep buyingTheir net position is growingPrice does not fall as much as the selling would suggest J. MEV / Sandwich Activity On Solana you can see patterns where: One wallet buys right before a large tradeThen sells right after This is common MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) behavior. Not every similar sequence is a sandwich, but the pattern is detectable. K. Arbitrage & Cross-DEX Price Control When the same token exists on Pump.fun / PumpSwap and Raydium (or other pools), bots constantly buy the cheaper one and sell the more expensive one. This keeps prices relatively synchronized. Watching who is doing this arbitrage tells you who is keeping the market efficient. L. Wallet Rotation & Token Rotation Wallet rotation: Position moves from Wallet A → Wallet B → Wallet C while the overall exposure stays similar. Token rotation: The same cluster of wallets that were early in Token A now appear accumulating Token B, then Token C. This is extremely valuable once you start tracking wallet clusters across time. M. New Wallet Inflow Sudden appearance of many brand new wallets can mean organic interest… or it can mean a new cluster of coordinated wallets being activated. Always check whether the new wallets are related to each other. N. Early / Informed-Looking Activity Wallets that appear right at launch, buy sizeable amounts, and later sell into the first big expansion. We don’t call them “insiders.” We call it “early informed-looking activity” and note the pattern. 4. Behavioral Transition — The Most Powerful Layer A single pattern can be normal. A change in patterns is often much more meaningful. Example: Before Mostly retail buyingLow wallet coordinationNormal trade intervalsStable liquidity Then something changes Wallet synchronization increasesA small group of wallets starts accumulatingSell pressure is being absorbedLiquidity becomes more concentrated Now Possible coordinated accumulation phase. This “regime change” thinking is far more useful than trying to label every token as “has a market maker” or “is organic.” 5. Putting It All Together — Market State Instead of 20 different alarms, the goal is to arrive at a clear, evidence-based summary: Market State Accumulation with coordinated activity Why Sell pressure is being absorbed8 high-activity wallets increased their net position5 of them show synchronized execution3 share a common funding relationshipPrice stayed relatively stable despite elevated selling Caution Activity is concentrated in a small clusterA meaningful portion of volume may not come from independent participants Confidence Medium-High If you want to go deeper, you can expand every bullet into the raw on-chain evidence. This format is readable, honest about uncertainty, and actually useful for decision-making. 6. Important Limitations (Read This) Correlation is not proof of control. Common funding + synchronized trading is strong evidence of coordination, but not 100% certainty.Many patterns that look “manipulative” can also appear in legitimate market-making or sophisticated trading.Order-book style spoofing (fake walls that disappear) is much less relevant on pure AMMs like Raydium or Pump.fun than on centralized exchanges.Tools can be wrong or incomplete. Always try to verify key claims yourself on Solscan, Bubblemaps, or similar explorers. The goal is not to become a conspiracy theorist. The goal is to see the structure of the market more clearly than the average person watching a stream. Final Thoughts Most memecoin traders only see the surface: price, volume, and what influencers say. Underneath there is a rich layer of wallet coordination, algorithmic behavior, liquidity management, absorption, distribution, and regime changes. You don’t need to detect “the market maker.” You need to observe the patterns, form careful hypotheses, and understand what those patterns imply for the next moves in the chart. Once you start looking at Solana tokens this way, the market becomes a lot less mysterious — and a lot more readable. Trade carefully.