How to plan your token listing and how can we support your debut?

We’re a leading market maker with a strong presence on top global and local crypto exchanges. Our algorithmic engine seamlessly integrates with most of them, ensuring 24/7 liquidity for the digital assets of our partners.

If you plan to list your token, we can introduce you to verified listing teams, assist in the listing process, and build liquidity for your token from the moment it gets listed. We ensure both initial and long-term liquidity by optimizing market depth and narrowing spreads. Schedule a call to get insights on the listing process across various exchanges and advice on the best listing strategy for your token” – Piotr Stawinski, Co-founder and Partnerships at Empirica

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If you’re planning your token debut, we highly recommend watching this video, where Piotr discusses essential tips for developing token listing strategy. He covers critical topics such as selecting the right exchange, avoiding common pitfalls like fake trading volumes and listing scams, and the importance of partnering with a market maker to ensure a smooth process.

Piotr will discuss some key issues regarding token listing:

Which exchanges are good for a first listing?
What is the difference when listing on centralized and decentralized exchanges?
What are the costs and listing requirements?
What are the risks associated with token listing on CEX and DEX?

Let’s break it down.

Crucial factors and essential steps that can make the difference in successful listing

Successful listing process requires careful consideration, strategic planning, and a deep understanding of the procedures involved. Let’s analyze the crucial factors and essential steps that can make the difference between a token’s successful listing and being lost in the vast sea of digital assets. While token listing may require effort and resources, the rewards and advantages make the endeavor worthwhile.

Listing on centralized platforms (CEX)

As of April 2024, there are 246 centralized exchanges listed on CoinMarketCap. Listing a token on a centralized exchange involves several steps and procedures. While the specific requirements may vary among exchanges, here are the general steps to consider when pursuing a listing:

Research and make a shortlist of suitable CEXes
Take your time to research and to identify centralized exchanges that align with your project’s goals, target market (geographically), and listing requirements, creating a shortlist of exchanges that best suit your needs.
Understand exchange listing criteria
Familiarize yourself with the specific guidelines and requirements of each exchange on your shortlist, ensuring your project meets the necessary prerequisites such as project viability, token standards, trading volume, and market capitalization. Some exchanges will want to check whether you have an MVP already.
Prepare legal and compliance documentation
Ensure all required legal documentation, such as legal opinions, terms of service, privacy policies, and necessary licenses or registrations, are prepared to demonstrate regulatory compliance to the exchange during the listing process.
Engage with verified listing teams
Establish communication and engage with the verified listing teams of the chosen exchanges to inquire about the listing process, clarify doubts, and understand specific requirements, streamlining the listing procedure. A good market maker will make intros to well-established exchanges.
Engage with a reputable market maker
Collaborate with a reputable market maker to enhance liquidity and market stability for your token, ensuring a healthy trading environment for investors on the exchange.
Complete exchange listing applications and due diligence
Submit the application to the exchange, providing all required information, documentation, and compliance materials, and be prepared for the exchange to conduct due diligence on your project, evaluating factors such as a whitepaper, team, technology, legal compliance, and token economics.
Negotiate listing terms & fees
After successfully meeting the exchange’s listing requirements and passing the due diligence process, negotiate and finalize the listing agreement, ensuring you understand the associated costs, ongoing obligations, and any specific terms or conditions.
Announce the listing
Coordinate with the exchange to announce the token listing, utilizing various marketing channels and strategies to generate awareness, attract investors, and drive trading volume on the platform.
Maintain the exchange relations
Last but not least, maintain regular communication with the exchange, nurture the relationship, and stay updated on any requirements, updates, or opportunities that may arise, ensuring a mutually beneficial partnership for long-term success.

If you are a startup token, you need to define a realistic token listing strategy, starting with listing on Tier 2/3 exchanges first (TOP 100 CoinMarketCap exchanges without the TOP 10), and then slowly adding more liquid venues to your portfolio.

Pros (+) and cons (-) of a centralized platform listing (CEX)

Before DEXes arrived, projects were listing their coins on centralized exchanges only. Today many smaller projects choose to list only on DEXes. Let us see why.

Liquidity
CEXs typically have higher liquidity compared to DEXs, making it easier for traders to buy and sell tokens at desired prices.
User base
These exchanges have a pre-existing user base that will help your token build a community.
User Experience
They are usually much more user-friendly than DEXes, making access to your token easier for the community and investors.
Compliance
CEXs usually have stricter regulatory compliance measures in place, which can provide a sense of security and assurance for investors and projects.

A lot of formalities
Centralized exchanges are always under the radar of governments and regulatory entities, which makes it harder for some projects to pass all the formal requirements;
Fees
CEXs often charge listing fees, ongoing maintenance fees, and trading fees, which can be substantial and pose a barrier for smaller projects; listing on good crypto exchanges can be pricey… up to 1 mln USD for the Tier 1 exchanges.
Timeline
It takes weeks, sometimes months, to go through the process (so it is good to plan that well ahead)

Listing on decentralized exchanges (DEX)

If your project is considering listing the token on decentralized exchanges (DEXes), there are some important points to address:

Understanding DEXes
DEX function is a bit different from the centralized exchanges. DEXes operate on decentralized protocols, enabling peer-to-peer trading without intermediaries. It’s crucial to grasp their unique characteristics, such as the use of smart contracts, decentralized order books, and different token standards like ERC-20 or BEP-20.
Research & make a shortlist of considered DEXes
Conduct research to identify decentralized exchanges that align with your project’s goals and target audience, creating a shortlist of DEXes that offer the desired features, liquidity, and compatibility with your token.
Deciding about the liquidity provision strategy
Determine your liquidity provision strategy, which may involve leveraging automated market maker (AMM) protocols or providing liquidity through liquidity pools. Consider the advantages, risks, and costs associated with each approach to determine the most suitable option for your project.
Understanding the listing processes for the selected DEXes
Familiarize yourself with the listing processes and requirements of the selected DEXes on your shortlist, which may involve steps such as token contract verification, community voting, or submission of listing applications. Ensure compliance with any specific guidelines or procedures.
Market-making and promotion activities
Develop a comprehensive market-making and promotion strategy to drive liquidity and trading activity on the DEX. This may involve activities like incentivizing liquidity providers, engaging with the community, implementing marketing campaigns, and fostering partnerships to increase token visibility and attract traders.

Pros (+) and cons (-) of a decentralized platform listing (DEX)

Before DEXes arrived, projects were listing their coins on centralized exchanges only. Today many smaller projects choose to list only on DEXes. Let us see why.

Decentralization
DEXs operate on decentralized protocols, eliminating the need for a central authority and providing a more trustless and transparent trading environment.
Security
DEXs reduce the risk of hacks or theft since user funds remain in their control and are not held by the exchange.
No fees
Listing new tokens on a decentralized exchange is usually free.
Fewer formalities
There is almost no verification process for listing coins on DEXes, no KYC/AML procedures.
Quick listing process
The listing procedure for new crypto assets is very fast.

Lower Liquidity
DEXes often have lower trading volumes and liquidity compared to CEXes, which can result in wider bid-ask spreads and potentially impact price stability.
Standing out from the crowd
Low entry barrier into a DEX results in too many tokens listed there; it is not easy to stand out from the crowd; at the time of writing the article, PancakeSwap (V2) had 3981 markets.
User Experience
DEX interfaces and user experiences may be less intuitive or user-friendly compared to centralized platforms, potentially impacting adoption and user engagement.

We support token listings on most top exchanges including

How can we help your token project?

You can benefit from our expertise and market insights. You will get help in optimizing your listing strategy and listing process. With Empirica you will increase the chances of a successful listing on the chosen exchanges.

Areas of partnerships in listing on exchanges

Exchange Selection
We are well-connected within the cryptocurrency industry and have relationships with various exchanges. We can offer guidance on selecting the most suitable exchanges for the token project’s listing, considering factors such as liquidity, target market, trading pairs, and listing requirements.
CEX-DEX dilemma
We can provide valuable assistance in navigating the CEX vs DEX dilemma for your token project. We can assess the project’s budget, liquidity requirements, target audience, trading pairs, and listing criteria to determine whether a CEX or DEX would be more beneficial.
Going with a reputable liquidity partner help
All good centralized exchanges require projects to have at least 1 market maker ready from day one if they succeed in listing on their platform. Having well-known market makers committed to the projects helps the listing. And what happens if you list without a market maker? Projects with very low liquidity will be delisted relatively quickly on many reputable exchanges.
Ethical market-making partner
It is key that projects understand the role of the market makers and have healthy expectations regarding the metrics of their markets after they get listed.
Avoiding scams
There have been many cases in the past, where scammers pretended to be listing managers and charged token projects for listing on an exchange. In the era of Telegram and Discord communication, you should always verify that you speak to real exchange representatives. Some exchanges guide you on their Web pages, on how you can verify the identity of the listing managers. We can help you with introducing you to the right listing team. We have proven networks of business developers and listing managers on various venues.

The example of the successful token listing supported by Empirica

Listing is more than just negotiating fees with an exchange and successful listings require active involvement of a market maker. We know how to go through this process smoothly. Today’s listing requires a comprehensive approach, and our services include extensive support in this area.

We are partnering with a web3 gaming startup that introduced a product with solid fundamentals and a clear use case. We supported token debuts on chosen centralized exchanges by providing initial deep liquidity for substantial trades from the first seconds it went public. Our role was to support token debut on three centralized exchanges as the only market maker responsible for listings.

Price and Volume Chart

The price increased up to 250% within the first week after listing, and remains stable after the first month. Since the listing, volumes have begun to rise significantly, reflecting a healthy market and good trading conditions.

Learn more about our offering with sample case studies from our most successful projects-> here.

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FAQ

What is KYC/AML

Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations exist to limit or mitigate the impact of money laundering, terrorism funding, corruption, and other forms of financial crime. Each centralized crypto exchange implements these procedures.

What is price discovery

Price discovery is the process using the economic concept of supply and demand to find a price where a buyer and a seller agree to trade.

What is centralized exchange?

Centralized exchange (CEX) is a digital asset marketplace using a similar business model to traditional asset exchanges like stock exchanges.

Centralized crypto exchanges typically keep limit order books, which are lists of open buy and sell orders, consisting of volumes and prices. They match up buyers and sellers and announce current market prices based on the last price an asset sells for.

What is decentralized exchange?

An exchange that allows for peer-to-peer transactions, which means that an intermediary is unnecessary. This type of exchange is fully autonomous and is managed by algorithms as well as smart contracts.

What is an MVP?

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development.

What is token liquidity?

This term refers to the ease with which tokens can be swapped for other assets (other crypto assets or government-issued fiat currencies). More on token liquidity can be found here.

What are tier 1 exchanges?

In the crypto space, there is no formal classification of exchanges. Tier 1 usually refers to the most liquid platforms, usually, the first 5 to 10 ranked on portals like CoinMarketCap or Coingecko.

What are the best exchanges to be listed on?

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