1. Introduction
Many people call this cycle the Meme Supercycle. Meme has indeed attracted a lot of capital participation, and the market is showing a grand scene of everyone competing to become a P player on the chain. In this process, we found that the way users speculate on Meme has undergone some obvious changes compared with the previous cycle, which is reflected in the use of trading platforms, trading habits, target selection logic, etc. Among them, the trading platform, as a display place for the gathering and game of various forces, is very suitable as a case for analysis.
The recent security incident of Dexx @DEXXai_EN has once again raised users’ concerns about the security of trading platforms. Unfortunately, when one Dexx falls, users rush to the next one. Platforms such as gmgn, Phonton, and Bullx have all welcomed a wave of new users.
On-chain security should be a long-term alarm bell. According to incomplete statistics from SlowMist, as of now, security incidents have caused a cumulative loss of more than 2.3 billion US dollars in 2024, of which the losses caused by theft of exchanges, wallets and related protocols are close to half of the total loss amount. The closer to the transaction, the higher the security risk, so it is more worthy for us to do more detailed research and more cautious decision-making before choosing a product.
This article will mainly explain the development history of the Meme trading platform, its current status, and our ideal final outcome for the on-chain trading platform.
2. Observation on the alternation between the old and new Meme trading platforms
In the last round of Meme craze, users mainly traded Memes through DEX and CEX. These two trading methods largely correspond to people with different risk preferences.
DEX does not require access, and everyone can deploy token contracts. Therefore, Meme will choose to distribute through DEX in the early stage. Although Dev dumping the market and running away, withdrawing from the pool, etc. are not uncommon, for people with high risk preferences, the extremely high upper limit of the profit and loss ratio makes DEX still an excellent PvP place. Regardless of actual ability, everyone has had the dream of "all-in Meme living in the palace".
After the DEX competition, some of the most prominent memes will be selected and listed on CEX due to their community traffic, holding size, liquidity, etc., to attract more liquidity. Due to the relatively high threshold of on-chain interaction, some non-degen users are invisibly excluded. CEX, as a second entrance, allows these users to participate in transactions, further accelerating the breakthrough of tokens among traditional users.
This round of meme fever is definitely inseparable from Solana's resurgence and the emergence of token launch platforms such as Pump.fun. In particular, Pump.fun has infinitely lowered the threshold for deploying memes, and mechanisms such as Bonding Curve and internal launch have made the gaming process more exciting and brutal.
The result is that the number of memes in this round has exploded, while the life cycle has been greatly shortened. It used to take at least a few days for a meme to go from birth to zero, but now it has been shortened to a few hours or even minutes. The speed of meme metabolism has urged users to increase their transaction frequency, and users' demand for efficient and fast tools has increased significantly.
Some multifunctional aggregation trading platforms have emerged. Based on the original online trading websites and DEX, they have expanded more functions that meet the users' high-frequency trading Meme needs, such as contract detection, Dev positions, smart money tracking, one-click buying and selling, bottom fishing, etc., striving to enable users to complete all operations on a single platform.
Users who pursue extreme transaction efficiency will also use TG Bot to trade directly using API to be "one step faster". The emergence of the Dexx security incident also alerts us to the various risks of this type of transaction, such as malicious contract interaction, private key leakage, etc.
One more thing, we believe that the myth that you can turn a loss into a profit just by using "faster" tools does not exist, and jumping the gun may also cause more losses. The improvement of the efficiency of individual transactions by tools is reflected in the ability to better serve traders' strategies and shorten the cumbersome steps required to obtain the same results, but it will never turn a bad trader into a good trader. Superstitious belief in tools will only backfire, and thinking is the secret to success for a successful trader.
3. Inventory of current mainstream Meme trading platforms
1. DEXScreener @dexscreener
As an established data platform launched in 2021, DEXScreener currently supports 93 mainstream public chains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Base. However, its core functions are relatively basic and gradually fail to meet the needs of more and more P-level players and pro traders.
It is worth mentioning that although DEXScreener does not have a segmented on-chain data service like gmgn, it has taken a different approach and launched the token launch platform Moonshot. The platform once seized the market share of pump.fun, but its recent performance has been mediocre.
2. Photon @tradewithPhoton
Photon is a DEX aggregator that appeared in 2023 and is currently a hot product. Photon claims that it uses AI algorithms to optimize transaction paths, supports cross-chain transactions, and can provide an efficient trading experience with extremely low slippage and less Gas costs. Currently, Photon supports five chains: Ethereum, TRON, Solana, Base, and Blast.
Compared to similar products, Photon focuses more on transaction speed optimization, which is a huge attraction for users who enjoy short-term mechanical PvP.
3. gmgn @gmgnai
As a product that was only launched in the second half of 2023, gmgn initially only provided some services to track the movements of smart money on the Ethereum chain, but after seeing the rise of Solana and the emergence of Pump.fun, the team decisively connected the product to Solana.
Currently, gmgn has become the most relied-upon tool for many Meme players when scanning chains. It can package various on-chain data into trading signals. Previously, information that was difficult for novices to obtain, such as insider trading, large coin holders, KOL positions, and smart money movements, has now become readily available. Currently, gmgn supports five chains: Ethereum, TRON, Solana, Base, and Blast.
The above three categories of products all belong to aggregated trading platforms, among which gmgn and Photon have launched their own TG Bot, and DEXScreener and Photon have mobile apps.
From the data point of view, Photon has the highest transaction volume, maintaining a daily transaction volume of hundreds of millions of US dollars, and has accumulated nearly 200 million US dollars in fees. gmgn maintains a steady development speed, and the proportion of daily active users far exceeds similar platforms. DEXScreener's revenue data seems mediocre, but it maintains good daily activity data.
4. OKX Wallet / DEX @wallet
OKX Wallet is a multi-chain wallet that users usually use to store, transfer, and trade crypto assets, as well as interact with DApps. In the latest version, OKX officially replaced the original Wallet page display with DEX. Currently, OKX DEX supports 40 mainstream public chains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Base.
In the previous tweet (https://x.com/weihaoming/status/1852331068265058768), I also mentioned the relevant data of OKX Wallet. In general, this product has seized the popularity of inscriptions last year and the meme fever that has continued this year, gradually gained a competitive advantage in the multi-chain wallet market, and is expanding to the DEX aggregation business.
5. Pepe Boost @PepeBoost888
PepeBoost is a TG Bot that has gained a large number of Chinese users due to its simple and easy-to-understand Chinese interface. Currently, PepeBoost supports 4 chains: Ethereum, TRON, Solana, and Base.
Although TG Bot represented by PepeBoost can often allow users to be “one step ahead”, it also brings higher security risks to users because the private key of the wallet needs to be hosted on the platform. When using such products, users should adhere to the principle of having more wallets and less funds, and isolate funds as much as possible to avoid being confiscated accidentally.
Judging from the current on-chain data, most aggregation trading platforms provide TG Bot services, and Bot transactions account for most of the platform's trading share - this shows that the current trading model preferred by Meme traders is this: scanning the chain, tracking, and screening targets through the aggregation platform, and then quickly executing transactions through Bot.
In general, among the above five products, DEXScreener and OKX Wallet/DEX are comprehensive trading platforms that provide users with basic aggregate trading functions; Photon and TG Bot focus more on improving trading efficiency; gmgn relies on providing users with more on-chain data analysis functions to make the original complex indicators more accessible, and has gained a place among many Meme trading tools.
OKX's entry into DEX has also triggered another layer of thinking for us - the transaction flow of CEX is already considerable, so why should we enter the on-chain trading platform track?
We believe this is probably the way CEX survives in response to external regulatory pressure. After experiencing initial wild growth, CEXs have taken compliance as one of the main development lines in this cycle. In order to cope with the regulatory requirements of different countries, CEXs have had to tighten their gray areas, and their business revenue has shrunk.
Will on-chain business be the next growth curve? Possibly. Firstly, due to the transparent nature of on-chain data, compliance requirements can be better met; secondly, Meme coins with low unit prices and full circulation have become the new favorite in this cycle, and a large number of transactions have been transferred from CEX to the chain. Faced with regulatory bottlenecks, CEXs naturally do not want to fall into a passive position, and joining the competition of on-chain trading platforms has become a natural thing.
4. Meme Trading Platform’s Final Assumptions
From comprehensive trading platforms to chain scanning tools and TG Bot, today's Meme trading platforms have a wide range of functions and seem to be able to meet most of the needs of traders. But why can't Meme get rid of extreme PvP and fast-running games?
We have seen some needs that have not received enough attention. In a nutshell, they are not simple enough. The reason why Dexx users seem to have forgotten the pain before the scars have healed is not because they don’t know the importance of security, but because in their trading habits, security is not as important as familiarity and convenience. This may be the biggest change in the portrait of players on the chain in this round - from the degens who were familiar with the laws of the dark jungle in the past to ordinary users who just want to participate in the Meme Supercycle.
However, the reality is that even if users are familiar with the advanced functions of various trading tools, on-chain asset management still takes a lot of effort. For example, although you first learned that Aptos launched the Pump.fun imitation EMOJICOIN.FUN, but you have never used the Aptos wallet before, if you want to participate, you need to go through the process of "installing the plug-in wallet → registering the wallet → purchasing APT on the exchange → transferring to the on-chain wallet → entering the platform to start charging". Every link here requires users to pay the cost of understanding.
Aptos is like this, and other new and small ecosystems are even more so. Many people should still remember that TON was emptied on multiple exchanges at the beginning of the year and withdrawals had to be suspended many times. If users want to avoid this embarrassing situation of being unable to put out a fire, they have to prepare a certain amount of funds on each chain in advance, but this is not only inconvenient to manage, but also greatly reduces the user's fund utilization rate.
Therefore, we believe that the most ideal solution should be that users can use any existing assets (such as ETH, USDC) to directly participate in transactions on Aptos / TON, without the need for bridging, manual management, or even understanding what the native token of the underlying chain is. Users only need to understand two things: 1) How many Us are there on my chain; 2) How many Us do I plan to buy with this token.
The current trend is already very clear. Users are moving to the chain, CEX is moving into the chain business, and the trading experience on the chain will be infinitely close to the off-chain. At the same time, the chain has an advantage that CEX cannot match - multi-chain and non-custodial and decentralized. Although the term "Binance on the chain" has been used by countless projects, we believe that it is still reasonable to regard it as the final assumption of the Meme trading platform.
What made me feel that “the future has arrived” recently was this leaked video of @ParticleNtwrk’s new product by @TABASCOweb3: multi-chain assets, U-standard, fast transactions, and you don’t even need to hold SOL to buy SOL meme…
(Video link: https://x.com/TABASCOweb3/status/1859545315780550749)
The wind starts from the tip of the green reed, and the waves form from the ripples. The large-scale adoption of the chain that everyone is calling for may already be within sight.
