Beginner's Guide to Earning Fees in a Bear Market

My First Week on Meteora

Today marks one full week since I started learning how Meteora works and how DLMM can be used to generate consistent fees and income — regardless of overall market conditions.

This article is for anyone who was in the same position I was 7 days ago: seeing people talk about DLMM and thinking, “What the heck is this — and how are they making money with it?”

Let’s start from zero.

Step 1: Consume Material and Ask Questions

Academy

If I was starting again with no knowledge, the first place I’d go is the LP Army website (lparmy.com/academy). Work through the basic, beginner, and advanced course videos.

Don’t rush them. Space them out, take notes, and let the concepts stack up — it’s much easier to absorb that way.

@Heavymetalcook6 does a great job explaining everything in these lessons and is very active in the LP Army community.

Discord

The second must-do is joining the LP Army Discord. It’s been my single most valuable learning resource this week.

I’d suggest sitting in the degen-dlmm channel and just observing — watch them print money, and ask about their strategies and what they’re doing. A lot of communities can be ego-heavy or dismissive toward beginners. This one hasn’t been like that at all. I’ve asked a lot of questions and received thoughtful, practical answers in return.

Quick Recap: What Is DLMM?

DLMM stands for Dynamic Liquidity Market Maker. The goal? Provide liquidity at specific price ranges where trading happens, so you earn fees from swaps.

Once you’ve watched all the videos and asked questions in the Discord, you’re ready to start trialing some positions.

Head over to the discovery page on the Meteora website (app.meteora.ag) and start looking for tokens.

Make sure you understand Bin Steps and Bins before moving on.

Step 2: Choosing the Right Token

Here are the filters I’ve been using (shout out to @lochie_sol for providing these):

Found a token within these filters? Don’t position yet. Watch what the LP Army does in Discord — if they start posting PNLs of the token you found, you’ve developed an eye for it.

Protecting Yourself from Rugs

Two resources I use when checking a token:

• rugcheck.xyz — Check for red flags
• bubblemaps.io — Visualize wallet connections

I also watch charts on gmgn.ai — it provides the best real-time charts. Check the bundled % on the GMGN chart to see how many wallets are connected on the token (Bubblemaps shows a visual of this).

Step 3: Learn a Strategy, Keep It Simple

My current plan: stick to 1 or 2 simple strategies and master them. Channel all my focus into these and become profitable. Keep capital low until I can prove consecutive wins to myself.

Here are the two strategies I’m learning:

1. SOL-sided Bid Ask + Wide range — Conservative
2. SOL-sided Spot + Medium range — Aggressive

Strategy 1: SOL-Sided Bid Ask (Conservative)

This is my most-used strategy and the most consistently reliable. Yesterday, the token dumped 70% with only a tiny rebound, but I still made 5% on the DLMM position.

How to set it up:

1. Click Add Position
2. Only deposit SOL (uncheck “auto-fill”)
3. Select Bid Ask
4. Set your range
5. Add liquidity

Range tip: I like to set a wide range — sometimes even -90% — meaning the token can dump 89.99% and still earn me fees. If we range down, I normally try to exit on the first or second bounce. Don’t get greedy — stack multiple small wins.

Think of this strategy like setting up a DCA limit order: buying more as the token goes down, then profiting off the bounce while earning fees along the way.

Strategy 2: SOL-Sided Spot (Aggressive)

Same method, but more aggressive. Your liquidity isn’t spread like in a Bid Ask setup — if you’ve watched the academy videos, you know the difference.

I only use this on coins where I’m struggling to catch the top for a Bid Ask play. I place quick positions with a smaller range to capture volume as a token chops.

How to set it up:

1. Click Add Position
2. Only deposit SOL (uncheck “auto-fill”)
3. Select Spot
4. Set your range
5. Add liquidity

Tracking Your Positions

Once you’ve placed a position, review it on app.ultralp.com — it shows real-time PnLs that are accurate.

@tendorian9 has great content on strategies, choosing tokens, and tokens to avoid.

Understanding Impermanent Loss (IL)

As your position enters range, you’ll experience Impermanent Loss. But it’s in the name — impermanent, not permanent.

If things go to plan, you’ll catch a bounce that erases the IL, or you’ll generate enough fees to offset it.

Why it happens: As a token goes DOWN within your range, your liquidity rebalances — you end up holding more of the weaker asset and less of the stronger one.

I’ve panicked at IL numbers multiple times. If I had just trusted the game plan, I would have ended up in profit.

What’s Next?

• Use the Playground feature on Meteora and practice
• Review and analyze every single position
• If you go straight to real money like I did, don’t use more than you’re willing to risk
• If the token drops below your range and doesn’t come back, all your SOL gets swapped into that weaker token at the lower price (this is why wide ranges on Bid Ask are important)

Disclaimer

I am not an expert — I’ve been trying this for one week. This is just a playbook I hope will help someone getting into Meteora and the DLMM world.

Please only risk what you can afford to lose, and do your own research. There is so much more to learn than what’s in this article. This is just enough to get you past the start line.

My plan now is to continue stacking small wins consecutively. If I can do that for the next few weeks, I’ll add larger size and start turning this into income.

Source: Madrag (@madragtrades) on X