Solana memecoin sniping rates persist despite faster block times

New Pump.fun coins receiving an outside buy within roughly 1.3 seconds remained nearly unchanged following Solana’s recent block-time reductions, Bitquery reported Oct. 26. The share measured 52% in the later sample versus 53% in the earlier period.

The analysis compared trading activity from Aug. 5, 12, and 19 against Sept. 23, 30, and Oct. 7. An “outside wallet” is any wallet other than the coin’s first buyer. Because both datasets end Oct. 7, the final reduction to a 200-millisecond slot target on Oct. 9 falls outside the scope of these observations.

First-block buying window narrows

The share of new coins receiving an outside buy in their first block fell from 42% to 32%. This coincides with the first block’s duration dropping from approximately 0.42 seconds in the earlier sample to 0.27 seconds in the later sample.

The 1.3-second comparison covered three slots in the earlier sample and five in the later. Consequently, a first-block purchase had a narrower window to qualify. Bitquery noted its measure captures early activity without confirming if every buyer was automated or predatory.

Sandwich detection rates rise

Detected sandwich patterns—buying before a trader’s swap and selling immediately after—dipped before increasing. Bitquery reported about 30 patterns per 10,000 swaps in early August, falling to 26 during Aug. 22-27 and 21 during Aug. 29-Sept. 17.

The rate then rose to 33 per 10,000 swaps from Sept. 19 to Oct. 7. These counts, derived from bot wallet detections before final filters, included swaps on Pump.fun and PumpSwap.

The Solana Foundation’s August modeling noted competing effects on sandwich profitability. While less reaction time can constrain attackers, shorter slots may mean fewer competing trades consume the price movement a user permits. If that allowance is static, a fast attacker may have more room to exploit it. The Foundation says shorter slots improve latency and narrow a leader’s control over block building.