alright, going to start a 1k -> 100k challenge on fomo, in public. wallet link at the end. i successfully did this in 2025 across ~5 months on sol, using a single phantom wallet, and rawdogging it on jup. i took 1k usd and turned it into ~112k at the wallet's high. i did this without expectations - i'm a HTF majors trader, but didn't want a blindspot on a big part of the market, especially after crushing the sol/bonk/wif trade. if you want an annotated chart of patterns that have printed for me (or at least have a good strike-rate) and don't want to read my wall of text, skip to the end. how i found success trading nanocaps/smallcaps: 1) i don't buy new pairs. when i started my trenching journey, i was never looking at dexscreener for stuff that spawned in (this is suicidal, 99.99% of these are rugs). i'm talking stuff you see in group chats, twitter, etc. trading new pairs fails because, when a coin bonds, there's an immediate supply overhang of nearly 100% of people in some degree of profit. market physics demands this gets worked out, and that's *before* you take into account the fact that people, using tooling + social gaslighting, intentionally bundle coins with the express goal of full stacking their coins super early. when i was new, i'd buy new pairs, and was slowly losing my balance. 2) i look for coins that fit one of two chart patterns, and they're pretty distinct pattern 1 (see screenshot) at the very least, the coin went down at minimum 70-80% at least once - this is worst of the supply overhang getting worked out. if it happens again (ie a 90% dump, then a 70% dump), and the coin comes back, it can still go to zero (many do), but it at least proves "there's something there" memetically or organically, otherwise it'd be done and dusted. pattern 2 (see screenshot) a coin that has a bundle rip out, then the coin pumps pretty high. eventually momentum traders leave (99% of onchain is pure momentum). there's a mini time capitulation (days-weeks, not talking months or longer), but then there's a telltale curl-up. this is the highest strike rate trade i've found, and what netted me the most success, especially if the "low" held a bit of a floor. this means there's either a) organic interest in the underlying meme/coin and its potential, and people are reaccumulating, or b) it's going to get crimed. both will print. i'm going to look for both of these patterns, and see if they still work today. 3) join a group chat. or make one with friends. this sort of social coordination layer makes finding/talking about new coins way easier - you leverage each other's research and vetting. everyone wins here. there's no reason to lone wolf this. nanocaps aside: i'm also going to mix in some memefi smallcaps on RH chain, on the thesis that once a coin reaches escape velocity for its RWA (ie MOO and MU), the odds of it losing out to a new coin are SUPER low, compared to prev gen memecoins. this sort of organic anti-dispersion/vamping mechanism is really powerful, and a big reason i think you see people feeling comfortable holding coins longer. i'll post a thesis for many coins. turning a 1k to 100k balance will involve moving in and out of *some* coins (especially <1m mcap) quickly, cutting stuff that smells like it's going to roll over, without warning. if you see my wallet buying something small, know that i might sell it quickly. i don't recommend tailing me into anything really small. if you haven't yet signed up to fomo, please consider using my ref link - you'll save money on fees. i've never posted a ref link in the 9 years i've been on ct, but this is a "you might as well", since it's beneficial to join via one. i appreciate it. or also, you can just follow me, if you're signed up another note: there might be days where i take zero trades. one important thing i've learned: less is more. being discerning on what to buy is everything. i don't just serial-buy stuff scanned in gcs thanks for following along. i won't post updates to CT terribly frequently, because a lot of people don't really care about this side of the space, but will occasionally do a roundup of successes and failures.