# Snipe tax

A snipe tax is a launchpad fee on early buys that starts high and falls to zero within seconds, so bots gain little by buying first.

Source: https://unisongo.com/learn/snipe-tax · Updated 12 Nov 2026 · Unison (unisongo.com)

## How it works

On [Pons](https://unisongo.com/atlas/pons) V2 a buy pays a tax of 99% at launch, decaying to 0 over 5 seconds: about 25% at 1 second and about 3% at 2 seconds. The creator, the fee recipient and up to 32 listed addresses are exempt.

Other launchpads do something similar with fees: Meteora DBC’s fee scheduler starts high and decays, and Four Meme’s X Mode lowers fees block by block.

## Worked example

A 0.1 ETH buy on Pons 1 second after launch pays about 0.025 ETH in tax. At 6 seconds it pays none. That is why team wallets on Unison that are not on the exemption list buy at least 6 seconds apart.

## Sources

- [Pons V2 docs](https://docs.ponsfamily.com/docs/v2), read 12 Nov 2026.
- [Meteora DBC fees](https://docs.meteora.ag/core-products/dbc/fees/overview), read 12 Nov 2026.

## Related

- [Front-loaded launch](https://unisongo.com/learn/front-loaded): A front-loaded launch is one where wallets outside the launch transaction buy a large share of supply in the first few blocks of trading.
- [Launch block](https://unisongo.com/learn/launch-block): The launch block is the block a coin is created in, and the only block where buys can land before anyone else has seen the coin.
- [Spread buys](https://unisongo.com/learn/spread-buys): Spread buys are team wallets that buy one at a time after the launch block, on a schedule, instead of all at once.