Token Listing: A Guide on the Dos and Don'ts.

What is permitted to Worldcoin is not permitted to Neon.😊

aka “What is permitted to gods is not permitted to cattle”

Worldcoin’s recent listing has rocked the charts, a total success, unlike Neon's adventure. Of course, with the Chat-GPT founder onboard, things were bound to be smoother than a silk highway in the crypto realm. But what worked for Worldcoin did not cut it for Neon.

So let’s see what homework you should do to make your token listing as successful as possible, even if you are not at a Worldcoin level of popularity and hype.

Family First

From a project's perspective, the community is like a family. Nurturing and valuing your community's quality over quantity is key. More often than not, a flood of folks brings along those pesky sybils, triggering a selling frenzy right at launch. For instance, Arbitrum had a large share of sybils, multi accounts, and flippers. But guess what? The hype was real, the community had faith, and their reputation spoke volumes. With such a strong turnout, sybils couldn't easily crash the price.

HHH: Hype’s Helping Hand

A good dose of pre-launch hype can be your listing's guardian angel, softening the impact of any listing mishaps. Take Worldcoin, for example – yes, there were flippers, but the buzz around the project kept the launch price stable. So, invest wisely in marketing, get your community buzzing well in advance, and brainstorm engaging activities that'll draw in the right crowd. Your launch success depends on that pre-launch excitement too.

Get yourself a right market maker

One of the costly missteps you can make is listing a token without a market maker. The irony is you'll end up with one working on your listing anyway, but it will work against you from the CEX’s side. Tier 2 CEXs, especially, tend to chase their own slice of the launch pie, which is not beneficial for your token’s healthy chart.

For instance, check the snapshot below. (Apologies for the image quality). It shows the order book of one anon project on CEX 15 MINS BEFORE THE LAUNCH! As you can see, CEX ain't gonna miss out on a possible profit it can make from the launch.

The key thing here is to choose the right MM, who will be competent about the market situation and will present potential scenarios prior to launch, providing you with reasonable and foreseeing strategies.

The Dilemma of Choosing the Liquidity Volume

A proficient market maker adeptly navigates DEXs. The right MM not only helps you understand the real market scenario and potential pressure on the order book but also gauges potential demand. More importantly, a savvy MM knows how to strike a balance between pool size and transaction size. Too little liquidity will most likely lead to transactions being "sandwiched.” On the other hand, excessive liquidity could slow down price growth, dampening enthusiasm among potential buyers and curbing the future activities of both the project and the market maker.

FTX's case serves as a good illustration.  There was an issue with insufficient liquidity on the FTX platform due to errors or misunderstandings in their calculations. These mistakes led to arbitrage traders actively exploiting price differences on various exchanges to gain advantages.

Strategize the Battleground

Announce the listing well beforehand.

Worldcoin announced it the same day (on Binance), but they could afford such a late announcement thanks to the luxury of sky-high anticipation. Their price soared right out of the gate and among those who profited from CEX itself. Worldcoin most likely did not have any communication or planned launch with CEX  due to legal regulations.

DEX, CEX, or both?

Alright, let’s assume you’ve got a loyal community with a minimum sybil rate. (Bzw, here is a good article on how to make your project Sybil-free.) What’s next? Now it is time to pick up a platform where you will have the token launched.  If DEX aligns with your project, it's a smarter move to kick things off there before venturing into CEXs. This way, you can ensure enough buying pressure to give your token a solid start.

Also,if your negotiation power with a CEX isn't substantial, the listing might come with a price tag. But once you've showcased impressive performance on DEXs, some platforms might opt to list your token without a fee and even proactively reach out to you. Those who were once dismissive might now extend discounts your way.

Here is play-by-play

1. Kick-off on a single exchange. If you've nailed the prep, get ready for that sweet pump. At this point, information support and general support from the community are extremely important because the price is very sensitive to any FUD which might occur.

   
   

2. Hang tight for an hour or two, then bring in the reinforcements - start adding other exchanges, including those CEX giants, bit by bit. Try to avoid listing on both DEX and CEX simultaneously, as it can lead to unequal prices on these platforms and will trigger rapid arbitrage. The project’s funds and market cap will drain into the hands of arbitrage players.

Usually, another wave of pumps can take place when you list on CEX, as the audience has already seen the first pump and will naturally wait for the next one. It might not be as intense, but the spotlight's still on for that second boost.

3. Keep the momentum going & add more CEXs gradually over a few days or even within a week. With each new listing, reignite interest in your token, keeping your community informed and buzzing with excitement!

Beware: DEX Sniping

On DEX, sniper bots can snatch your liquidity right during the launch if it is not protected. You can set up protection through the token's smart contract, but that might cut off a portion of your audience by blocking their transactions during the most crucial moments after launch. This will negatively impact the trust score of automated auditing systems such as DEXtools and similar platforms for your token. Alternatively, you can remove the bots, but that might also affect a significant part of your audience.

Certain bots not only function via smart contracts but also imitate regular users by using similar wallets.  They might enter the scene at any block prior to real users. Not just at block zero but even on the inaugural block. Their aim? To outpace genuine users. It's a dilemma – you might lose your initial users or find yourself swarmed by bots.White hat sniping is a great solution to this challenge. It involves a sequence of transactions that effectively counteracts bots trying to evade security measures. Peanut.trade can be a good example of white hat sniping fighters, who can guard your launch against harmful bots and make sure it goes smoothly in every way.

Hodl Tight, Stake Right

Let's talk about keeping your token's price in check and your chart healthy. So, if you've had a bunch of big unlocks, consider staking as a strategy to hold onto some liquidity that might otherwise be sold off.

Your audience who've stacked up tokens can put them to work by staking them right away. Staking becomes a smarter move for them, beating out the selling game. Now, to keep the hodlers happy, you gotta dangle some cool carrots. Think early bird access to upcoming listings or the chance to nab an NFT that opens the door to an exclusive club or ramps up the usefulness of the token.

As an example: 1inch rewards you with gas expense refunds according to your staked token amount, granting you potential gas savings of up to 100%. Oh, and make sure your token brings real value to the table!

In the article, we've thrown around Worldcoin's name a bunch as a prime example of a successful launch that's gotten away with a lot, but the party's not over; let's keep an eye on its progress moving forward. All in all, remember to put in the effort and do your crypto homework before launching the token, communicate it with exchanges, choose the market maker wisely, and utilize this guide. 😊