Why Trading Meme Coins on PancakeSwap Felt Like a Ponzi Scheme: My Honest Experience

How I Got Into Meme Coins

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I still remember the year 2021 — it was post-COVID and honestly, I was broke. A friend then introduced me to Meme coins. It was so easy to get seduced by the assurance of making money everyday for as long as you chose to.

Let me say this upfront: this isn’t to bash anyone who’s made money from meme coins. I just want to share my experience — raw and honest — so anyone new to this space can think twice before diving in.

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My PancakeSwap Journey

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It started with a simple youtube link for me to watch so I would have a little foundation on how meme coins worked. I watched the 2 hour video and also read blogs to get knowledge.

I followed the steps:

• Download the Trust Wallet app
• Fund it using HBD and BNB.

I used my last $10 at the time to buy BNB — yeah, that desperate.
I quickly learned that the game was all about catching new tokens early. I used bscscan to spot fresh coins and avoided obvious scams with some basic checks:

• Check if the contract is locked: Look for ownership renouncement or lock messages.
• Examine the liquidity pool: If a single wallet holds a massive percentage of tokens or the LP tokens aren’t burned/locked, red flags everywhere 🚩

I used poocoin to monitor how coins pumped or dumped. And for a while, it felt like I was getting the hang of it. I played it safe — exited when I made 2x or 3x on my tiny investments.

But it didn’t last. Eventually, I bought into a few scam tokens and lost most of the profit I’d scraped together.

Why It Felt Like a Ponzi Scheme

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Even when I was desperate to make it work, I couldn’t shake off certain questions and red flags:

• There was no real product

• The only way to profit was to buy before others and sell before the coin rugs

• Everyone was just hoping someone else would buy in to make to coin pump (the value increases)

• The developers were almost always anonymous

At one point, I’d just sit there staring at my screen on Poocoin, watching the candles go green — and I’d feel rich. Then they’d turn red, and I’d be broke again 😅.

Sometimes the coin would rug-pull, unable to even sell because the devs locked the contract. It was wild. And honestly, it felt similar to a Ponzi Scheme: new money feeding old players, hype with no substance, and a ticking time bomb under every chart.

What I Learnt

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• Understanding tokenomics is key: I was new and didn’t really grasp how these things worked. In summary, I could have done better in understanding tokenomics before jumping in.

• Decentralized ≠ trustworthy: A decentralized system was made for better protection and to give users more power over their data. But it doesn't equal trust and you could still lose your investment.

• Community > hype: Projects driven by a real, engaged community tend to last longer than those built solely on buzz.

• Do your own research (DYOR): I was guilty of skipping this. Big mistake. Never again.

Conclusion

Looking back, trading meme coins felt more like gambling than investing. I got in hopeful, made a little money, lost it all, and walked away wiser (and poorer 😂).

Yes, some people made massive gains — but a lot of us were just exit liquidity for early birds. I realized I was depending on hype, not value, and that’s a losing game in the long run.

These days, I focus more on understanding what I’m investing in, rather than chasing quick pumps. The hard lesson? If you don’t understand it, don’t put your money in it — no matter how tempting it looks.

Let’s Talk 👇🏽

Have you ever traded meme coins? Got rugged or made some wild gains? I’d love to hear your story. And if you’ve found more sustainable strategies in DeFi, please share them — I’m still learning, and I know others reading this are too.

Let’s grow together 💡💰

Posted Using INLEO