A new token just launched, the price has already pumped several times, and you're wondering, "Is it too late to get in now?"—but in reality, the moment the token deployer adds liquidity to the pool, sniper bots have already bought in the same block. True "early chips" are never available to manual traders.
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To see who bought before the public opening, follow these 3 steps to trace on-chain.
Prerequisite: Understanding Same-Block Sniping
The moment a new token adds its liquidity pool on a DEX—the very instant it becomes tradable—sniper bots have already completed listening, bidding, and execution.
Same-block buying means: the transaction where the deployer creates the token and adds liquidity, and the sniper's buy transaction, are packaged into the same block. This isn't "front-running"—it's using the micro-block mechanism or high gas fees to get prioritized inclusion, achieving "simultaneous" execution. A case on Base saw a sniper grab 26% of the total supply of the JESSE token within a single block, with two addresses making over $1.3 million in profit.
So you don't need to "race" for the first trade. What you need to do: In a block explorer, find out who already bought in that first transaction.
Step 1: Locate the "Opening Block" on a Block Explorer
The first thing after a token launches isn't to open a trading app—go to a block explorer and find the block where liquidity was added.
What to do: Get the token's contract address, search it on Etherscan or BscScan, and go to the "Transactions" or "Holders" page.
How:
Switch to the "Transactions" tab and sort by time from oldest to newest.
Find the first transaction—usually the "Add Liquidity" or "Create Pair" transaction. Click the block number to open the block details page.
On the block page, view all transactions in the block in chronological order. Sniper bots use higher gas fees to grab early positions within the same block, so right after the deploy transaction you'll see a batch of buy transactions.
When you're done: You've located the token's first trading block and can see all transfer records in that block.
Step 2: Identify the Characteristics of Sniper Buy Addresses
Not every transfer in the block is a bot. Sniper buys have several distinct on-chain features—use these to filter.
What to do: In the block's transaction list, find addresses with timestamps right next to the deploy transaction, neat amounts, and similar behavioral patterns.
How:
Timing: After the deploy transaction, subsequent buy transactions are spaced by seconds or even milliseconds. Manual traders can't act that fast—this is a typical bot signature.
Amount: Sniper bots typically use fixed buy amounts, and multiple transactions show highly similar amounts (e.g., 0.2–0.5 SOL each).
Addresses: Multiple addresses exhibit highly consistent ordering behavior—same time, similar amounts, similar patterns. This usually indicates "multi-wallet parallel sniping" controlled by a single entity.
Gas fees: Sniper transactions often set higher gas or priority fees than normal to compete for front positions in the block. In the JESSE case, one sniper paid over $44,000 in priority fees for a ~$190,000 buy.
When you're done: You've marked the addresses in the block that fit these traits—they're the wallets that "bought in the same block."
Common mistake: Only checking "transaction time" without looking at the block number. Time gaps between different blocks can be seconds or tens of seconds—that's not same-block buying; it's buying after the first pump.
Step 3: Trace Address Histories Using Smart Money Tools
After finding these same-block buyers, the next step is to determine whether they are regular sniper bots or "insider wallets" linked to the project team.
What to do: Copy the addresses identified in Step 2 into a smart money tracking tool or the address search box of a block explorer, and examine their historical transactions.
How:
Check the address's history: If it's the address's first transaction, or it has only traded this one token, it's likely a freshly generated sniper wallet—moderate-to-high risk.
Check the funding source: If the address had no prior on-chain history before the launch, but its first funding came from an older, well-established wallet, that older wallet could be a "mother wallet" of the project or insiders—this is a critical fund flow clue. Insider wallet traits: they buy a large amount of tokens (e.g., more than 10% of total supply) within 1 minute after launch and then distribute the holdings to multiple addresses.
Use smart money tracking tools: Tools like GMGN and Bubblemaps can label addresses as "smart money," "KOL," "insider wallet," etc., helping you identify the nature of these addresses.
When you're done: You can tell whether the Step 2 addresses are ordinary sniper bots, freshly created temporary wallets, or insider wallets linked to the project team. If it's the latter, the project carries extremely high risk.
Risk warning: Even if you trace these same-block buyers, it doesn't mean you should copy them. Many "smart money" addresses have low win rates; they only seized 1–2 opportunities to scale up, and most of their buys still end up going to zero. Instead of blindly following these addresses, use them to assess whether the project has already been "sniped dry" — if over 50% of the supply in the opening block has been bought by a few addresses, the token's supply structure is no longer suitable for manual traders to enter.
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How to Verify Your Analysis is Correct?
After completing these three steps, you should be able to draw clear conclusions:
How many sniper buys occurred in the token's opening block?
Are these addresses regular bots, or are they linked to the project team?
If multiple addresses in the top 10 holders bought in the same opening block, is there a funding connection between them?
Save screenshots of suspicious address labels and fund flow paths as key references when deciding whether to participate. If over 30% of the supply in the opening block is concentrated in a set of highly connected addresses, it's best to skip this project altogether—you're not battling the market, you're battling the team's insider holdings.
