Case Studies

Case Studies: Winning Plays, Famous Rugs, and What We Learned

By now, you’ve got the tools and tactics. But experience is the real teacher.

In this final part, we’ll go through real-world memecoin trades on Solana — both wins and epic fails — so you can learn from what worked (and what wrecked).

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🏆 Case Study 1: $WIF — The Meme That Made Millionaires

Date: Late 2023 Launch price: <$0.0001 Peak price: ~$4.80 ROI: 50,000x+

Why it worked:

• Clean branding: simple name, cute dog

• Community-driven: no VC backing, no presale

• Listing wave: listed on almost every CEX in Q1 2024

• Organic growth: memes, Twitter shills, and conviction holders

🔥 Lesson: Real memecoins don’t need utility — they need culture + vibes + supply shock.

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🐍 Case Study 2: The Instant Rug — $JEETS

Date: May 2024 Launch: Stealth + Telegram hype Rug time: 3 minutes after launch What happened:

• Token launched

• Dev immediately pulled liquidity

• Chart went straight up → straight to zero

Red flags ignored:

• Dev wallet held 80% of supply

• LP wasn’t locked

• No contract verification

• Twitter account was made same day

💀 Lesson: Always check rugcheck.xyz and SolSniffer before aping, even in trusted groups.

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🧠 Case Study 3: The Comeback Coin — $MOONKE

Date: Early 2024 Chart: Pump → dump → long crab → moon Pattern:

• Early buyers dumped

• Dev kept building

• Second wave of hype brought in new buyers

What made it succeed:

• Meme branding + anime appeal

• Strong rebranding mid-cycle

• Smart community engagement

• Listed on Raydium, then MEXC

💡 Lesson: Sometimes coins moon on the second cycle, not the first. Watch charts for “second life” signs.

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🔎 Case Study 4: Buying Into the Top

Example: Buying $SLERF at $1.60 after the Binance listing Outcome: Crashed to $0.40 in days

Common mistake:

• Chased green candles

• Bought without plan

• No stop-loss, no scaling out

• Twitter euphoria blinded logic

🧨 Lesson: Don’t buy tops. If it’s already 10x'd and everyone’s tweeting it — you’re probably late.

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🧘 Final Tips from Solana Degens

• Use burner wallets

• Join alpha groups, but don’t blindly follow

• Always check the contract & LP

• Take profit on the way up

• Don’t get married to a bag

• Memes > tech in memecoins

• Don’t trade with rent money

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🏁 The End (Or Just the Beginning?)

You’re now armed with:

✅ Tools ✅ Wallet safety practices ✅ Buy/sell strategies ✅ Degen mindset ✅ Real examples

Memecoin trading is chaos — but there’s alpha in chaos.

If you stay sharp, protect your SOL, and keep learning, you might just catch the next $WIF.