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Chapter 2 · Basics: Check a Token Before You BuyLesson 10 of 16
2.10

Total Fee

± 4 min read 5 sections 5 images

Contract safety and distribution are checked. Now check whether the trading activity is real: .

Section 1 / 5

What is Total Fee?

Total Fee is the total cost (in SOL) that all traders have paid on that token. can be faked by bots, but every transaction pays a fee, so fees are harder to fake.

Try itTotal Fee vs (rough estimate)
The course's rough guide: Total Fee is about 1 : 10,000 of MC (MC $10K ≈ 1 SOL). Quick math: MC (in $) ÷ 10,000 ≈ expected Total Fee in SOL. It's an estimate, not a hard rule. Exception: new pairs with heavy volume in the first few minutes. Check the chart too: rising like a staircase or too neat = suspect fake volume (lesson 2.10, lesson 2.12). The "10x below the guide" threshold in this calculator is also an estimate, not from the lessons.
Section 2 / 5

How to check

  1. Open the token on GMGN. Total Fee is in the token header (the Total Fees label, or the F icon in the token info row).
    The F icon in the GMGN token info row shows the total fee (example: 0.70 SOL). (Screenshot: GMGN)
    The F icon in the GMGN token info row shows the total fee (example: 0.70 SOL). (Screenshot: GMGN)
  2. Compare it with the market cap (MC). This course's guide: Total Fee around 1 : 10,000 of MC. Example: MC 10k → fee around 1 SOL. This is an estimate, not a hard rule.

    Easy way to calculate: MC (in $) ÷ 10,000 ≈ expected Total Fee (in SOL). Example: MC $50K ÷ 10,000 = about 5 SOL.
    Exception: on a with really heavy volume at the start (the first few minutes after launch), the 1:10,000 Total Fee guide sometimes doesn't hold, because the numbers haven't settled yet. Don't use Total Fee as your only guide in this phase; also check holders, the bubblemap, and the .

  3. If the fee is far below that guide, be suspicious: MC may have gone up because of just a few (manipulation).
    Suspicious example: ① MC $44.91M, but ② Total Fees only 0.73 SOL, far below the 1:10,000 guide. GMGN screenshot (Oct 2026). Token is only an example, not a recommendation.
    Suspicious example: ① MC $44.91M, but ② Total Fees only 0.73 SOL, far below the 1:10,000 guide. GMGN screenshot (Oct 2026). Token is only an example, not a recommendation.
  4. Also check the Trades tab: are the buyers varied, or is it the same wallets going back and forth?
    Trades tab on GMGN: ① Trader column (address + label icon), ② Total USD per transaction. Check whether transactions come from many wallets with varied amounts. GMGN screenshot (Oct 2026). Token is only an example, not a recommendation.
    Trades tab on GMGN: ① Trader column (address + label icon), ② Total USD per transaction. Check whether transactions come from many wallets with varied amounts. GMGN screenshot (Oct 2026). Token is only an example, not a recommendation.
Section 3 / 5

Real Example: Staircase Chart + Tiny Total Fee

These two tokens (checked Oct 18, 2026) both came from pump.fun and have moved to PumpSwap. Same pattern: the chart climbs like a staircase that's too neat, but the Total Fee is way below the guide. The MC numbers keep changing, so all the numbers below are numbers at the time of checking.

ADP: ① 1-hour chart climbing like a staircase, too neat (from about $157M to $354M), ② Total Fees only 0.56 SOL, ③ MC $352.95M. GMGN screenshot (Oct 18, 2026), numbers at the time of checking. Token is only an example, not a recommendation.
ADP: ① 1-hour chart climbing like a staircase, too neat (from about $157M to $354M), ② Total Fees only 0.56 SOL, ③ MC $352.95M. GMGN screenshot (Oct 18, 2026), numbers at the time of checking. Token is only an example, not a recommendation.
  1. Calculate with the 1:10,000 guide: ADP's MC of $352.95M → the fee should be around 35,295 SOL. In fact it's only 0.56 SOL, about 63,000x smaller than the guide.
  2. How can that be? Our guess (not a verdict): the volume is fake volume / from a few wallets. A 24-hour GeckoTerminal data snapshot (checked the morning of Oct 18, 2026, Jakarta time): ADP had about 42,964 buy transactions, but from only 41 unique buyers; UER had about 44,847 buys from 489 buyers. A handful of wallets (likely bots) buy and sell back and forth, the climb neatly, but the fees paid are tiny compared to the MC.
  3. Why can still be small? On both tokens, Bundler is only 0.4%. Bundler only catches many wallets buying together in one bundle. If the trading comes from a few wallets buying and selling back and forth and not buying together in one bundle, Bundler can still look small. That's why Total Fee + chart shape matter for catching this pattern.
UER, the same pattern: ① 1-hour chart climbing like a staircase (from about $157M to $254M in about 17 hours), ② Total Fees only 0.33 SOL, ③ MC $254.11M (the guide says about 25,411 SOL, so about 77,000x smaller). GMGN screenshot (Oct 18, 2026), numbers at the time of checking. Token is only an example, not a recommendation.
UER, the same pattern: ① 1-hour chart climbing like a staircase (from about $157M to $254M in about 17 hours), ② Total Fees only 0.33 SOL, ③ MC $254.11M (the guide says about 25,411 SOL, so about 77,000x smaller). GMGN screenshot (Oct 18, 2026), numbers at the time of checking. Token is only an example, not a recommendation.

CAs to check yourself: ADP HgJqicqiMReHEgfT1f9N49YKdgkpKshiD4wVxNTBpump, UER 6o8NjyvB7V8uXhxy9XnTMpuLjEfxSjudHhmFwoGGpump.
An MC in the hundreds of millions of dollars doesn't automatically mean the token is big and low . Check the fee first, and remember: what we're after is the smallest possible risk, not because the number is huge.

Section 4 / 5

Green flags & Red flags

IllustrationA chart rising like a staircaseMade-up data, the pattern follows the lesson

Slide the time all the way to the end. Do you think this chart looks normal or suspicious?

Green flags

  • Total Fee makes sense compared to MC (around the 1:10,000 guide or more).
  • Transactions from many wallets with varied amounts.

Red flags

  • Big MC but a tiny fee.
  • Transactions with the same pattern (same amounts, same intervals): signs of a bot.
Summary

Summary

Summary
  • Total Fee = the total cost all traders have paid on that token. Harder to fake than volume.
  • The course's guide: MC (in $) ÷ 10,000 ≈ Total Fee (in SOL). It's an estimate, and in the first few minutes of a new pair it sometimes doesn't hold yet.
  • A fee far below the guide = suspect fake volume (the ADP and UER examples). Skip or be careful, then move on to checking the token's socials and profile. A small fee = bigger manipulation risk, not a price prediction: when checked, the ADP and UER charts were actually still going up.
Section 5 / 5

Common mistakes

  • Believing a big MC = low risk, without checking the fee.
  • Thinking a small Bundler means the volume is real. Wash trading from a few wallets can slip past Bundler.
  • Using Total Fee as the only guide in the first few minutes of a new pair.

Volume can be faked, and greed can fool you too. Make sure the risk is as small as possible before you enter.
Next up, lesson 2.11: .
Not financial advice.

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