What is a sniper in crypto? Sniper bots explained

A sniper in crypto is a wallet, usually a bot, that buys a token in its first seconds to sell to later buyers. Snipers and sniping on pump.fun, both sides.

You are never first. On a fresh launch the first buyers are machines, and they bought to sell to you.

Snipers counted on every new pair's card: pump.fun new pairs, live.

What sniper means in crypto

A sniper is whoever buys a new token in its first moments, before most people can even see it. The sniper meaning comes from the shot: aim at the launch, fire, get out.

Most snipers are bots. A human cannot spot a new token, read it and buy it inside the same second.

A program can. Some snipers are traders running their own scripts. Some are the launch crew on extra wallets, which is where sniping and bundling blur.

What snipers are on pump.fun

Every new launch on pump.fun starts at the bottom of its bonding curve, where tokens are cheapest.

Snipers want that bottom. They buy in the first seconds, then sell as soon as the price has moved enough, often into the very buyers the launch attracted.

That makes a sniped launch a launch with sellers already loaded. The more supply snipers still hold, the more selling sits above anyone who buys after them.

How sniper bots work on Solana

A sniper bot on Solana does three things:

1. Watches. It listens for new tokens, a new pool, or a wallet it follows making a move.
2. Decides. Simple bots buy everything. Better ones check the dev, the name, the size of the first buys.
3. Races. It sends the buy with priority fees or tips so it lands as early as possible, ideally in the same block as the thing it reacted to.

Then it sells by its rules: a target, a timer, or the first sign of weakness. Many bots run at once, so on a busy launch snipers mostly race each other.

Why snipers matter to a trader

• They are early supply. Cheap tokens still held are future sells.
• Count and share tell different stories. Sixty wallets holding 19% between them is a crowd of bots that will sell at different moments. Five wallets holding 19% is a few heavy hands, maybe one crew.
• They sell fast. A sniper's whole plan is a short hold. Their exit can be the first red candle after your buy.
• Empty is good news, late. Snipers who already sold are gone. But then someone bought all of it, and the price already moved.

How clusterz counts snipers

• The definition. A sniper is any wallet that bought in the first 60 seconds of trading. The dev does not count. Every bundle wallet is also a sniper.
• The Snipers pill. In the holder checks on every Trenches card, and under Indicators on a token page. It reads like 14 · 8%: how many wallets, and the share of supply they still hold. Hover it: "14 snipers hold 8%".
• The warning line. Over 20% still held, the pill goes warning colour and Against reads "Bots bought a lot". At 50% or more it reads "Bots bought most".
• The Alpha score. Snipers still holding more than 10% take 10 points off. More than 20% takes 14. See Alpha score.
• All facts. The Snipers row reads like "14 wallets, hold 8%".
• Filters. Snipers in Filters takes a count of wallets, not a percent. See Discover.

No figure? Our tape has to have seen the launch, and a launch with 200 or more wallets in its first minute gets none.

A missing pill is a check that did not happen, not a pass. How to read snipers next to the bundle and insiders is in Bundles and insiders.

Sniping: the other side

Sniping is also something you can do. In clusterz there is no separate snipe page. A snipe is a way to copy, inside Copy Trade:

• Their first buy, fastest, on a trader: "Buys in the same block as them, sells by your exits." The fast copy.
• Only when 2 or more of their wallets buy in the same block, on a list or your own picked wallets. The together copy.
• A dev, on Launch or on The dev's first buy. The dev copy.

On screen these are all copies. A position one of them opened says "A snipe: its setup sells it." It sells by that copy's own exits, plus the Pool drained and Failing sells protection. See Exits.

The limits that matter:

• A fast, together or dev copy cannot start without an exit.
• You can run 5 of them at once.
• In Live every copy buys on the pump.fun curve only.
• Below 0.25 SOL per buy the cost line turns amber. Fixed costs eat small snipes alive.
• Skip repeat names keeps a dev copy on Launch out of a dev relaunching the same name. Skip Mayhem tokens skips Mayhem launches, and is off by default.

Being the sniper does not protect you from snipers

Buying first does not mean selling first. Other bots bought in the same seconds, and some of them are faster than you at the exit too.

A snipe is a bet that more buyers come after you than the snipers around you.

Often they do not. Run a new setup in Practice before any SOL goes in, and set a daily loss limit you can live with. None of this is advice.

Snipers FAQ

What does sniper mean in crypto?

A sniper is a wallet that buys a new token in its first seconds, usually through a bot, so it can sell to later buyers at a higher price. On clusterz a sniper is any wallet that bought in the first 60 seconds of trading, dev excluded.

Are snipers bad for a token?

They are supply waiting to sell. A few snipers holding little is normal on any launch. When snipers still hold more than 20%, our pill goes warning colour, and from 10% the Alpha score starts taking points off.

What is a sniper bot on Solana?

A program that watches for new tokens or wallet moves and buys in the same block or the next ones, paying priority fees or tips to land early. It then sells by preset rules, often within seconds or minutes.

Can you snipe tokens on clusterz?

Yes, as a copy. A fast copy buys on a trader's first buy, a together copy when 2 or more of a list's wallets buy in the same block, and a dev copy on the dev's launch or first buy.

Each sells by its own exits. Start with your first copy trade.