Your Pre-Buy Checklist Is Useless If You Don't Follow It

Why Your Checklist Fails

Most traders have a checklist. They wrote it once in a notes app, looked at it twice, and now it sits there like a forgotten gym membership. When the chart pumps and FOMO hits, that checklist gets ignored. You tell yourself "this one is different" or "I'll just check the metrics after I buy."

That's not a checklist. That's a security blanket.

A real pre-buy checklist is a friction device. It slows you down when your brain wants to rush. It forces you to see the red flags before your money is gone. If you don't follow it every single time, it's worthless.

The Three-Second Rule

Before you even open a chart, ask yourself one question: Why am I looking at this coin right now?

• Did someone shill it in a group chat?
• Did you see a green candle on a screener?
• Are you bored and scrolling for action?

If the answer is anything other than "I saw it on my own curated list from a reliable signal," stop. Close the tab. Walk away for five minutes. The best trades come from preparation, not impulse.

The Hard Filter

Build a checklist that eliminates 90% of coins before you ever check the chart. These are non-negotiable. If any one fails, you skip. No exceptions.

• Liquidity: Minimum $50k locked. Less than that and a single whale can dump you into oblivion.
• Holder count: At least 100 unique holders. Fewer than that and you're in a group chat, not a market.
• Top 10 concentration: Under 30%. If a handful of wallets hold most of the supply, you are exit liquidity.
• Contract verified: On Etherscan or Solscan. Unverified contracts are a hard pass.
• No mint or pause functions: Check the source code. If the dev can mint more tokens or pause trading, you're gambling, not trading.

You can check all of this on GMGN in under 30 seconds. If the coin fails any of these, move on. There are thousands of coins. This one is not special.

The Soft Filter

These are situational. They don't automatically disqualify a coin, but they demand extra caution.

• Social presence: Is there a Telegram or Discord? If yes, go read the last 50 messages. Is it all memes and rocket emojis? Or are people actually discussing the project? If it's only hype, that's a red flag.
• Dev activity: Has the deployer wallet been active recently? Did they dump on previous launches? You can check the deployer's history on GMGN. If they've rugged before, assume they will again.
• Chart pattern: Is the chart a straight line up? If it's already pumped 10x before you looked, you're buying at the top. Wait for a pullback or skip.

The Execution Step

Once you pass all filters, you still need a plan. Write it down before you buy.

• Entry price: Exactly where are you buying? Not "around here." A specific number.
• Stop loss: Where do you get out if it goes wrong? Hard stop. No moving it down.
• Take profit: What's your target? Take partial profits there. Don't get greedy.
• Position size: How much are you risking? Never more than 1-2% of your portfolio on a single memecoin.

If you can't write these four numbers down before you click buy, you are not ready to trade. You are gambling.

The Post-Buy Discipline

After you buy, the checklist doesn't stop. Set an alert for your stop loss and take profit levels. Check the chart once every 30 minutes, not every 5 seconds. Obsessive watching leads to emotional decisions.

If the coin drops below your stop loss, sell immediately. No hoping. No "it might bounce." Hope is not a strategy. If it hits your take profit, take some profits. You can always buy back if the setup still holds.

The Hard Truth

Most memecoins go to zero. Your checklist won't save you from every loss, but it will save you from the stupid ones. The ones where you bought because of a shill, a green candle, or boredom. The ones where you ignored every warning sign because you wanted to get rich fast.

Building the checklist is easy. Following it is hard. That's why most people lose money.

Be the person who follows the checklist. Not the person who wishes they had.

Run this checklist on Android

Blackhat Empire combines the token scanner, risk context, alerts and DYOR Academy in one mobile workflow. View it on Google Play. A scan can expose warning signs, but it cannot guarantee safety.