Faster Solana slots fail to stop memecoin bot snipers

Blockchain data company Bitquery's latest analysis, with figures verified Oct. 26, found that similar shares of new Pump.fun coins received an outside buy within roughly 1.3 seconds across Solana's earlier block-time cuts. The share was about 53% in the earlier sample compared with 52% later.

Preliminary sandwich detections rose to 33 per 10,000 swaps during September 19 to October 7 in the study's sampled venues. Both bot comparisons end October 7, leaving the final October 9 reduction to 200ms outside their measured scope.

First-block buying declined

The share of new coins receiving an outside buy in their first block fell from 42% to 32%. But the first block also became shorter, lasting about 0.27 seconds in the later sample against 0.42 seconds earlier. A first-block purchase had a narrower window in which to qualify.

The roughly 1.3-second comparison covered three slots before and five in the later sample. The decline in first-block buying was much less evident when measured over approximately equal elapsed time.

Sandwich patterns persisted

Bitquery reported about 30 detected patterns per 10,000 swaps in early August, 26 during Aug. 22-27, and 21 during Aug. 29-Sept. 17. The rate then reached 33 during Sept. 19-Oct. 7.

The Solana Foundation's August modeling described competing effects on sandwich profitability. Less time to react can constrain an attacker, but shorter slots can also mean fewer competing trades use up the price movement a user permits before a swap executes.