CryptoSlate
Bitquery found outside wallets bought roughly 1.3 seconds after launch for 53% of new Pump.fun coins in its earlier sample and 52% in the later one. Detected sandwich patterns also climbed to 33 per 10,000 swaps from Sept. 19 to Oct. 7, after dipping earlier in the study. The figures were verified on Oct. 26.
Why it matters
Solana's slot-time reductions were expected to change the conditions for memecoin sniping and other forms of maximal extractable value. The data shows a narrower first-block window, but not a comparable reduction in early outside buying when measured across roughly equal elapsed time.
The first-block share fell from 42% to 32%, but the later first block lasted about 0.27 seconds versus 0.42 seconds earlier. That shorter window makes the metric less comparable on its own. Bitquery's outside-buy measure also does not establish that every qualifying buyer was automated or predatory.
Market impact
Sandwich detections fell from about 30 per 10,000 swaps in early August to 21 between Aug. 29 and Sept. 17, then rose to 33 during the Sept. 19 to Oct. 7 period. The sample covered Pump.fun and PumpSwap, with counts taken before the study's final filters.
The comparison does not include Solana's final move to a 200-millisecond slot target on Oct. 9. The Solana Foundation has described competing effects: shorter slots can limit reaction time, but they can also reduce competing trades that consume a user's permitted price movement. Faster execution may improve latency without automatically removing sandwich risk.
Frequently asked questions
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How did outside buying change after Solana's slot-time cuts?
Bitquery found an outside buy within roughly 1.3 seconds for 53% of new Pump.fun coins in the earlier sample and 52% in the later sample.
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What happened to detected sandwich patterns in the study?
Detections fell to about 21 per 10,000 swaps between Aug. 29 and Sept. 17, then rose to 33 per 10,000 swaps from Sept. 19 to Oct. 7.
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Why is the first-block buying comparison difficult to interpret?
First-block buying fell from 42% to 32%, but the later first block lasted about 0.27 seconds versus 0.42 seconds earlier, giving buyers a shorter qualifying window.
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Does an outside buy prove that a bot carried out the trade?
No. Bitquery's outside-buy measure captures early buying by a wallet other than the coin's first buyer, but does not establish that every buyer was automated or predatory.
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Was Solana's 200-millisecond slot target included in the trading data?
No. The comparisons ended on Oct. 7, while Solana's final reduction to a 200-millisecond slot target came on Oct. 9.
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