How to List Your Token on Raydium AMM in 3 Steps.

Okay, so most folks jump straight to Raydium's site, mash "Create Pool," and dump in like 1 SOL worth of liquidity thinking that's it. Boom, token live. But nah. Pool goes live, price swings wild from one tiny trade, no one's finding it, and rug vibes hit hard. I've seen it tank projects overnight. The thing is, you gotta prep your token right or it's dead on arrival.

Why does this happen? Raydium's permissionless-anyone can spin up a pool super fast. But without solid setup, it's invisible. In my experience, skipping verification or skimping liquidity is the killer. Sound familiar? Let's fix that. We'll do this in three dead simple steps, but with the real talk on pitfalls.

Step 1: Get Your Token Battle Ready Before Touching Raydium

Don't even think about pools yet. First, your token's gotta be deployed on Solana as an SPL token. That's the standard-think ERC-20 but for Solana's speed.

Grab a wallet like Phantom or Solflare. Head to a tool like Solana Token Creator or spl token CLI if you're CLI comfy. Mint your supply, set decimals (usually 9 for memes, 6-18 for serious stuff). But here's the kicker: disable freeze authority. Pools won't work otherwise. And revoke mint authority if you can-shows no more tokens incoming, builds trust.

Next, verify it. Pump your token metadata onto Solscan or Explorer.solana.com. Upload logo, name, symbol, description. Missing this? Traders see "Unknown Token" and bounce. I usually spend 10 minutes here-costs nothing but a few tx fees, like 0.000005 SOL each.

Quick Audit Check-Don't Skip

Get an audit from CertiK, OtterSec, or Sec3. Costs 5k-20k USD depending on complexity, but skips "scam" flags.
Publish tokenomics: total supply, vesting, no sneaky taxes. Whitepaper? Drop it on GitHub or your site.
Test multisig for any admin keys. Tools like Squads make this easy.

Potential issue: Token-2022 extensions? Raydium's new CP Swap supports Transfer Fees, Metadata Pointer. But freeze? Nope. Check docs if you're fancy.

Once verified, copy your token mint address. That's your golden ticket. Takes maybe an hour if you're quick. Why bother? Pools with verified, audited tokens rank higher on DexScreener, pull real volume.

Now, Step 2: Fire Up That Liquidity Pool on Raydium

Alright, token's solid. Hit raydium.io/liquidity. Top right: "Create" button. Boom.

Pick "Standard AMM" (that's CP Swap, newest one). No need for OpenBook Market ID anymore-saves hassle and ~0.7 SOL rent from old Legacy v4. Cheaper, supports Token-2022.

Enter your base token mint address (your token).
Pick quote token: SOL's king for volume, USDC for stability, RAY if you're ecosystem aligned.
Set starting price: How many quote tokens per 1 base? Say, 0.001 SOL per your token. Think market cap-don't overprice or it'll sit.
Initial liquidity: Crucial. Aim $20k-$50k total. Like, 10k of your tokens + equivalent SOL/USDC at your price. Skimp? Slippage kills it-one 100 SOL buy swings 50%.
Start time: Future UTC timestamp. Gives you promo window.

Click "Initialize." Approve in wallet. Fees? Network's tiny-0.0001-0.001 SOL per tx. You'll get an AMM ID post creation. Share that bad boy everywhere.

But wait-common trap. Unbalanced liquidity? Price warps instant. Solution: Use Raydium's calc-it auto fills the other side based on price. Test on devnet first if paranoid.

Quote Token	Why Use It?	Est. Initial Amount for $30k Pool
SOL	High volume, volatile fun	SOL + your tokens
USDC	Stable, big holders	~$30k USDC + tokens
RAY	Ecosystem boost, farming potential	~50k RAY + tokens

Pro tip: Lock LP tokens via Team Finance or burn a chunk. Transparency wins holders.

Step 3: Launch, Promote, and Keep It Alive

Pool's live at your set time. Traders can swap now. But visibility? Share AMM ID or mint on Twitter, Telegram, DexScreener. Submit to CoinGecko/CoinMarketCap-free, takes days.

Optional but smart: Farms. Head to Farms tab, create one for your LP tokens. Offer rewards (your tokens) to stakers. Pulls in LPs, boosts APR. Set emission schedule-say 1M tokens over 30 days.

In my experience, first 24h volume decides fate. Blast socials: "Pool live! AMM ID: xyz. DYOR." Run Telegram raids? Kinda shady, but organic shills work.

Troubleshooting the Hiccups

Pool not showing? Check Solscan for tx confirm. Wallet sync issue? Refresh or switch RPC (Helius free tier rocks).

Honeypot fears? Prove renounce on Twitter with Solscan links. Low volume? Add more liquidity yourself, start a farm, or airdrop to.

Fees on trades? Raydium's 0.25% default-0.22% to LPs, rest protocol. You earn as LP holder. Pretty much passive income.

Real Talk: Liquidity Depth and What It Means

Look, $20k is minimum viable. But for real traction? $100k+. Why? Deep pools mean low slippage. A $1k trade on shallow pool? 10% swing. Deep one? 0.5%.

I've launched a few-started with 30k, topped to 200k via farms. Volume exploded. The math: TVL = your tokens * price + quote. Keep 50/50 balanced.

No farms yet? Your LP tokens chill in wallet. Stake 'em later for fees. But impermanent loss? Yeah, price pumps/dumps hurt. Hedge by holding both sides.

Post Launch: Don't Sleep on This Stuff

Pool's humming. Now monitor. DexScreener for charts, Birdeye for analytics. Watch for snipers-bots buy/sell fast.

Community? Pump it. Discord AMAs, Twitter spaces. List on Jupiter aggregator next-auto routes trades.

One pitfall: Admin keys left? Rug accusations fly. Revoke pre launch. And marketing-target Solana degens. Ads on Blockchain Ads or just grind Twitter.

Honestly, my last one hit 10x volume day 2 after DexScreener submit + farm launch. Patience, though. Solana's wild.

Bonus: Comparing Pool Types Quick

Type	Cost	Supports Token-2022?	Best For
Standard AMM (CP Swap)	~0.01 SOL	Yes	New tokens, cheap/fast
Legacy AMMv4	~0.7 SOL	No	Old school, proven

Stick to Standard unless legacy needed. Saves cash.

Wrapping the Loose Ends-Security First

Wallets: Phantom for easy, Backpack for power. Multisig treasury via Squads-prevents solo rugs.

Gas? Solana's joke-0.000005 SOL/tx average. But congestion spikes to 0.01. Keep 1 SOL handy.

Last thing: Test everything. Devnet pools free. Mess up there, not mainnet.