Sniper shield

Sniper bots try to buy a new coin in its very first second, then dump on everyone who comes after. The sniper shield turns that around: for the first few seconds after launch, every buy pays a heavy fee. A bot that rushes in hands most of its money to your coin. Real buyers who arrive a few seconds later pay the normal fee.

The shield is on by default for 10 seconds. On Quick launch it's tucked away: tap + Add description, links and sniper shield to switch it off or change its type. In Customize everything you can also set it from 3 to 30 seconds (section 7).

Two types, on every chain#

Solana, Robinhood Chain, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon and Avalanche all work the same way. Quick launch uses a flat 90% for 10 seconds. The chart in section 7 shows exactly what a sniper pays each second for the type, time and fee you pick: it uses the same math as the chain.

Older coins keep the shield they launched with. Coins from Manna's first launch contracts on the EVM chains use Fast fade (99% extra at the open, halving 14 times, so it's mostly gone a third of the way in), which was the only type there. New launches get Flat or Fading.

How it works on each chain#

Flat#

"Anyone who buys before the shield ends pays the same fee, the whole time, not just the first second. Then trading is normal."

Pick 90%, 95% or 99%. A bot that buys 1 SOL (or 1 ETH) in that window pays 0.9 in fees and gets coins for 0.1. The flat rate is the buy's whole fee: on a coin with a 3% creator fee (4% normal fee) and a flat 90% shield, a buy pays 90% in total, 4% as the normal fee and 86% as sniper fee.

Fading#

"Buys pay 99% at the open, falling every second to the normal fee when the shield ends."

The fee falls by the same proportion every second (an exponential curve), landing exactly on your normal fee when the shield ends. It's the same curve on every chain. A 10-second fading shield on a coin with a 1% creator fee (2% normal fee):

On EVM chains the contract works this out on chain, so a second's fee can differ from this table by 0.01%.

Flat is simpler to explain to your community. Fading lets genuine early buyers in sooner while still punishing the first-second bots.

Who skips the shield#

On Solana#

Only your launch buy. It goes through in the same transaction that opens the pool, so it pays the normal fee. "Only your launch buy skips it." Any buy you make afterwards, even seconds later, pays the shield like everyone else.

On EVM chains#

Team wallets skip it, whatever the type. "Your wallet is always on the team. Add up to 31 more." That's 32 wallets in total. Add them in section 7 by pasting each 0x address and tapping Add. Each team wallet gets a public "Team" badge on your coin, so traders can see who they are.

Your dev buy is made from your own wallet, so it skips the tax too.

The team cap (EVM)#

Tax-free team buying could be abused, so it's capped. "Team can buy at most" a share of supply, from 1% to 20%, default 5%. "Covers your dev buy plus all team buys during the shield."

• On the Manna curve, the coin's factory counts every team buy in the launch block and during the shield window. A buy that would take the team over the cap fails.
• The launch form checks your dev buy against the cap before you launch: "Dev buy is over the team cap".
• After the shield ends, team wallets trade like anyone else and the cap no longer applies.

Where sniper money goes#

Whatever a buy pays above the normal fee during the shield is the sniper fee. Manna keeps a third of it, on every chain. The other two thirds go back to your coin.

EVM chains#

You choose where your two thirds go in "Sniper tax goes to":

On the Manna curve the contract splits each sniper buy as it happens. On bot-ready coins the shield is part of the Uniswap pool's fee: Manna works out each swap's sniper part from the fee the pool charged, and when the pool fees are collected the contract splits that part the same way, a third to Manna and two thirds to your choice. The normal part of the pool fee is shared as usual: Manna's 1% and your creator fee through your route.

Solana#

"The shield fee goes into the coin's fee pool." When the fees are collected, Manna takes a third of the shield fees and the rest follows your fee route.

This applies to coins that share their fee through Manna. On a Keep-it-all coin, the Meteora pool itself splits every fee (shield fees included) between you and Manna in proportion to your creator fee and Manna's 1%.

Worked examples#

A bot spends 2 SOL in the first second on a Solana coin with a flat 90% shield and a 1% creator fee, using the Balanced route:

1. 1The bot pays 1.8 SOL in shield fees and buys with the remaining 0.2 SOL.
2. 2Manna takes a third of the 1.8 SOL: 0.6 SOL.
3. 3Your Balanced route gets 1.2 SOL: 0.48 SOL to you, 0.3 SOL to holders, 0.18 SOL to the Comeback Fund, 0.12 SOL to the Hype Crew slice (on Solana the sniper part of the Hype Crew slice always goes to holders, link or not) and 0.12 SOL to burns.

A bot spends 1 ETH 3 seconds into a 10-second fading shield on a Base coin on the Manna curve with a 1% creator fee, sniper fee to the Comeback Fund:

1. 1The buy's total fee is 30.7%: 1% to Manna, 1% creator fee, 28.7% sniper fee.
2. 2Manna takes a third of the sniper fee, about 0.0957 ETH, and about 0.1913 ETH goes to the coin's Comeback Fund. The 1% (0.01 ETH) goes to Manna and the creator fee (0.01 ETH) through your route. The bot buys with 0.693 ETH.

Turning the shield off#

Switch it off in section 7 and every buy pays the normal fee from the first block. This makes sense for a coin launched only for a known community (for example with an Allowlist rule), but on an open launch it invites bots.

Related#

• Launch settings
• Dev buy and locks
• Fee routes
• Trading rules