01 · OverviewTwo ways to buy MET
There are two realistic routes. Which one suits you depends on whether you want MET in your own wallet and whether an exchange near you lists it.
Buy SOL, then swap to MET
Buy SOL on a licensed exchange, withdraw it to a self-custodial Solana wallet, and swap SOL for MET on meteora.ag or Jupiter. It works from almost anywhere, gives you full control, and lets you use MET in Meteora’s staking program straight away.
Buy MET directly where listed
Several large centralized exchanges list MET. If one available in your country does, you can buy MET with fiat or stablecoins and optionally withdraw it on the Solana network. Fewer steps, but you rely on the exchange while the tokens sit there.
Route A is the one most Meteora users take, because it ends with MET in a wallet that can interact with the protocol. It is also the route this page focuses on. The checklist in the hero follows it step by step and saves your progress in this browser.
02 · How-toStep by step: from cash to MET in your wallet
Set up a Solana wallet
Install a self-custodial wallet that supports Solana — Phantom, Solflare and Backpack are common choices, and all three connect to meteora.ag. Write the seed phrase on paper, store it offline, and never type it into a website. Copy your Solana receiving address.
Choose a licensed exchange
Pick a regulated exchange that serves your country and supports SOL withdrawals on the Solana network. Check its licence, fee schedule, payment methods and withdrawal fees. Complete identity verification before you need to buy, so you are not waiting when the moment comes.
Buy SOL
Deposit by bank transfer or card and buy SOL. Bank transfers are usually cheaper; card purchases are faster but often carry a higher fee or spread. Buy a little more than you plan to swap, so you keep some SOL for network fees.
Withdraw SOL to your wallet
Paste your wallet address, select the Solana network and send a small test amount first. Once it arrives — usually within seconds to minutes after the exchange processes it — send the rest.
Connect to meteora.ag or Jupiter
Type the address yourself or use a bookmark. On meteora.ag, the Jupiter Terminal is embedded at the bottom-left of the site and routes your swap across all of Solana for the best price. You can also open jup.ag directly. Connect your wallet and approve the connection.
Select MET and verify the mint
Choose SOL as the input and search for MET as the output. Open the token details and check the mint address:
METvsvVRapdj9cFLzq4Tr43xK4tAjQfwX76z3n6mWQL. If it doesn’t match character for character, stop.Swap and confirm
Enter the amount, review price impact, the minimum received and the fee, then approve the transaction in your wallet. When it confirms, open MET in your wallet and check the mint once more.
A worked example: you buy 2 SOL, withdraw it, and swap 1.9 SOL for MET while leaving 0.1 SOL in the wallet. That buffer covers many future transactions, including account rent for new tokens and fees if you later stake MET or move it again.
If you have never bought SOL before, our guide to buying Solana covers the first four steps in more depth, including how to compare exchange offers by what actually lands in your wallet.
03 · AlternativeBuying MET directly on an exchange
MET has wide centralized coverage. CoinGecko’s market list at the time of writing includes Binance, Coinbase Exchange, Kraken, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, Gate, HTX, MEXC, Upbit, Bithumb, Crypto.com Exchange and many smaller venues. On-chain, MET trades in Meteora’s own DLMM and DAMM v2 pools as well as on Orca, Raydium, PumpSwap and Byreal.
A listing on CoinGecko does not guarantee that an exchange is licensed where you live, that it offers MET to your account type, or that MET withdrawals are open. Check those three things in the exchange’s own help pages. We don’t recommend any specific venue and have no partnership with any of them.
Why buy on an exchange
- Fewer steps: no separate swap.
- Fiat on-ramp and MET purchase in one place.
- Order books can be deep for larger trades.
What to keep in mind
- Tokens on an exchange are custodial until you withdraw.
- Availability differs by country and account.
- Withdrawal fees and minimums vary.
- You still need a wallet to use Meteora staking.
If you withdraw MET from an exchange, the rules are the same as for SOL: Solana network, test amount first, mint check on arrival.
04 · CostsFees and slippage, explained with numbers
Four layers of cost stand between your cash and your MET. The table shows where each one comes from.
| Exchange trading fee | Charged when you buy SOL. Varies by exchange and payment method; cards usually cost more than bank transfers. |
|---|---|
| Withdrawal fee | Charged by the exchange when you send SOL out. Often a small fixed amount of SOL. |
| Solana network fee | Base fee of 5,000 lamports per signature — about $0.0005 at a SOL price near $95 — plus an optional priority fee when the network is busy. |
| Swap fee | Set per pool, not globally. DLMM pools use a base fee tied to bin step plus a variable fee that rises with volatility. |
| Price impact and slippage | How far the price moves because of your trade, and how much further you allow it to move before the swap fails. |
Slippage tolerance is the setting that causes the most expensive mistakes. If you set 1% on a $500 swap, the worst you can receive is about $495 of MET — the trade fails rather than fill below that. Set 20% and you have told the network you would accept $400. Meteora’s docs also note that the price impact shown excludes slippage and the swap fee, so read all three lines before you confirm.
Priority fees deserve a word too. During busy periods, wallets may suggest a higher priority fee to get your swap included quickly. That is normal, but the amounts should still be small; a wallet suggesting a priority fee that rivals the size of your trade is a reason to pause, not to click.
Start with SOL
Every route to MET on-chain starts with SOL in a wallet you control.
05 · VerificationVerify the mint before you trade
Fake tokens are the most common way buyers lose money on Solana. Anyone can mint a token called “MET” with Meteora’s logo. Swap interfaces show every token that has a pool, including fakes. The mint address is the only identifier that cannot be copied.
METvsvVRapdj9cFLzq4Tr43xK4tAjQfwX76z3n6mWQL
- Copy the address from docs.meteora.ag, not from a chat, a reply or an ad.
- Compare the first six and last six characters at the very least.
- Treat unverified-token warnings in Jupiter or your wallet as a stop sign.
- Check the token on an explorer: the real MET has a supply just under 1 billion.
Meteora’s own safety guide recommends using tools such as RugCheck, JupShield and Jupiter’s Organic Score when you evaluate any token. For MET itself, the mint check is enough; for anything you find through MET pools, use all of them.
06 · SecuritySecurity habits that matter
Most losses don’t come from smart-contract bugs. They come from a fake site, a malicious approval or a leaked seed phrase. These habits block the common attacks:
- Bookmark the real sites. Use bookmarks for meteora.ag, jup.ag and your exchange. Search ads can point to lookalike domains.
- Never share your seed phrase. No support agent, airdrop or “wallet sync” tool needs it.
- Read what you sign. A swap should show SOL out and MET in. A request to approve unknown programs or transfer other tokens is a red flag.
- Ignore DMs offering help. Scammers watch public channels for anyone asking questions.
- Consider a hardware wallet for larger balances; the main Solana wallets support hardware devices.
- Keep exchange and wallet separate in your head. Funds on an exchange are custodial; funds in your wallet are yours alone, and so is the responsibility.
07 · NextAfter you buy
Once MET is in your wallet, you have a few options. You can simply hold it. You can stake it in Meteora’s Referral Staking program, which shares 10% of DLMM protocol fees with stakers in USDC — note that rewards are paid per cycle and unstaking before a cycle ends forfeits that cycle’s rewards. Or you can provide liquidity in a MET pool, which earns trading fees but exposes you to impermanent loss.
Whatever you do, remember what kind of asset this is. MET has swung from about $0.69 at launch to about $0.09 at its low and back above $0.25 since. Roughly 7 million new MET a month is scheduled to unlock until 2031. Understanding the token before you size a position is time well spent — our MET token guide covers supply, allocation and utility in detail.
