Solana minted meme coin millionaires faster than any other blockchain. And unlike other crypto investments, memes are accessible to everyone. This guide will help you navigate the Solana-based meme tokens. We’ll cover the basics, see how to set everything up, how to buy your meme coins, and risks to watch out for. 

Understanding Solana Meme Coins

Meme coins (or memecoins) are one of the crypto’s oldest subsectors.

Everything started with Dogecoin in 2013. Launched as a joke, Dogecoin grew into a top-10 crypto asset worth tens of billions. 

Since then, every meme coin tries to repeat Dogecoin’s success. Yet none have succeeded in toppling it. Still, any meme coin’s rise from zero to even a few million dollars can bring serious money to those who are early. 

What Makes Solana Meme Coins Unique?

What sets Solana meme coins apart is the combination of tech and culture. 

Due to the way its blockchain works, Ethereum meme coins can be expensive to trade. It's also more expensive to launch new coins. So while older large meme coins like PEPE are on Ethereum, new coins usually launch on Solana.

Solana's infrastructure lets anyone take part without prohibitive costs. This accessibility has democratized meme coin trading. In turn, more participants mean more virality. Memes spread fast, and prices follow suit. This is what makes meme coins so appealing to both experienced traders and newcomers.

Key Characteristics of Solana Meme Coins:

  • High accessibility. Low barriers allow retail investors to participate
  • Viral community culture. Strong social media presence drives adoption
  • Experimental playground. Developers can launch projects fast and cheap 

Why Solana for Memecoins?

For trading meme coins, speed and cost efficiency are everything. Solana is great at both. 

  • Lightning-Fast Transactions. Solana can process up to 65,000 transactions per second. This means trades execute instantly, even during peak market volatility. 
  • Ultra-Low Fees. Average transaction fees are $0.0025. So you don’t have to worry about paying too much. This is crucial for meme coin trading. You might make many small trades or want to experiment with tiny amounts.
  • Big Ecosystem. Pump.fun made it very easy to launch new meme coins. Solana exchanges like Radium, Orca, and Jupiter created permissionless markets for any new token. Lots of other tools seek to give traders an edge. 

Given these advantages, it’s not surprising that many of the top meme coins are on Solana. 

Examples of top meme coins on Solana

PENGU is the memecoin that was airdropped to the Pudgy Penguins NFT holders. Although the NFT collection is on Ethereum, the coin launched on Solana. 

BONK stands as Solana's flagship meme coin, featuring an adorable Shiba Inu mascot. BONK did one of the biggest airdrops on Solana and built a big community. 

WIF (Dogwifhat) captured hearts with its viral "dog wearing a hat" concept. This simple yet brilliant meme resonated across social platforms, driving explosive growth.

POPCAT is based on the famous cat from the internet meme culture. It shows how well-known internet references can capture attention.

TRUMP is the “official” meme coin launched by the President of the United States, Donald Trump. 

You can buy these big meme coins on many centralized crypto exchanges like Coinbase. But because these coins are worth billions, they are unlikely to move 10x, let alone 100x. 

If you seek these higher gains, you need to look for smaller, newer meme coins. And that can only be done onchain, in the so-called “trenches”.

Setting Up for Trenching aka Trading New Coins

The first step to buying meme coins is to set up a Solana wallet. 

Choosing Your Solana Wallet

When entering the Solana ecosystem, you have lots of wallet options. Phantom is usually the default wallet. But there is something better. 

Zerion Wallet has only recently arrived on Solana. But it already offers some big advantages: 

  • Track all your tokens with PnL to see your profit (or loss!)
  • Follow any Solana wallet address to see what they trade and copy their best moves
  • Trade tokens at the best rates in the market

Here are the steps to getting started with Zerion Wallet 

  1. Download the wallet on iOS or Android
  2. Create new wallet address 
  3. Write down your recovery phrase securely
  4. Buy Solana to fund your wallet 

That’s it, you’re ready to trade! 

How much SOL do you need to trade meme coins? 

You can start small, with even 1 SOL. With Solana's transaction fees averaging $0.0025, you can open tiny positions. You can buy meme coins with small increments like 0.1 SOL or even 0.01 SOL. After getting some experience, you can increase your trade size. 

Always keep some SOL in your wallet because you'll need it for transaction fees. This ensures smooth trading without interruptions.

Research Before You Buy

Before diving into any Solana meme coin, you should do some research. Don’t be afraid, you don’t need some fancy analysis. The main goal is to ensure that a meme coin has a community and will not disappear tomorrow. 

Essential Research Tools:

  • CoinGecko - Gives you prices, trading volume, and other data for thousands of coins. You can explore Solana meme coins on CoinGecko for the latest rankings and data.
  • Solscan - This blockchain explorer is great for verifying contract addresses. It can also help you analyze who holds a specific meme coin. 
  • Zerion web app - You can enter any Solana address and see what it’s holding. You can browse its transaction history, view what it has traded, and see what it currently holds. For example, here’s Toly.sol, an address owned by Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko. If you're a developer, you can also access this data with Zerion's S0lana API.  
  • Twitter/Discord - Check community sentiment, developer activity, and project updates. Active, engaged communities often signal healthier projects.
  • Pump.fun - Essential for tracking new launches.

Critical Safety Warnings:

❗
Rugpulls are rampant in the meme coin space. Scammers often create fake tokens with similar names. Always double-check that the token has the correct address; don’t just type the ticker.

Never invest based on social media hype alone. Start with small amounts while you learn to identify legitimate projects from scams. Remember, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Your research determines your success in this volatile market. 

Ok, now it’s time to learn how to actually buy meme coins. 

How to Buy Solana Meme Coins

You can only buy new meme coins on decentralized exchanges aka DEXes. 

Using Decentralized Exchanges

DEXes are exchanges that function fully onchain. Anyone can launch a trading pair on DEX. The price is set automatically based on the balance in the liquidity pools. 

Here are the biggest DEXes on Solana:

  • Raydium operates as a hybrid automated market maker (AMM). Raydium has become the backbone of Solana DeFi. 
  • Orca stands out for its user-friendly interface and concentrated liquidity pools. As a beginner-friendly option, Orca makes complex trading accessible while maintaining competitive rates.
  • Jupiter is a DEX aggregator that finds the best prices across different exchanges. It ensures that you get optimal pricing without checking each exchange. 

Zerion Wallet also integrated Jupiter, so it can always find you the best rate. So you don’t even need to know anything about how these DEXes work. 

Step-by-Step Solana Trading Process

  1. Open Zerion Wallet
  2. Select Tokens: Choose your input token (usually SOL or USDC) and target meme coin
  3. Review Trade: Check the exchange rate, fees, and estimated output amount
  4. Confirm Transaction: Sign the transaction in your wallet and wait for confirmation

It’s best to start with smaller amounts when trading new meme coins. With smaller trades, you get better rates and can also avoid buying the wrong token. 

Call to Action

Solana is the perfect playground for meme coins: fast, cheap, and buzzing with new launches. In this guide, you’ve seen how to:

  • Understand what makes Solana meme coins tick (speed, low fees, and culture).
  • Set up a wallet, fund it with SOL, and keep a small fee buffer.
  • Do quick due diligence with CoinGecko, Solscan, Zerion’s web app, and community checks.
  • Buy meme coins on DEXes by finding the best price right inside your Zerion Wallet.

Start small, verify contract addresses, and win.

Ready to join the meme coin trenches? 

Install Zerion Wallet to get an edge:

  • Track PnL for every token you hold.
  • Follow any Solana wallet to see what they trade and copy their best moves.
  • Trade at the best rates with built-in aggregation.