Creating a token is exciting enough, but the real euphoria comes when it gets listed on a reputable exchange and begins trading.
However, listing a token is not easy. If you think creating the token was difficult, be prepared for the shock of a lifetime when you try to get it listed. There is nothing to be afraid of, though, as the entire process is designed to help both newcomers and industry veterans list their tokens.
To make the procedure easier to understand, we have a detailed step-by-step guide below that will help answer your question, “How to list a crypto token?”
Reasons to List Crypto Tokens on Exchanges
Listing your token on a reputable exchange is a vital step in establishing its credibility and legitimacy. The benefits you will get include.
- Listing a token on an exchange enables users to easily buy or sell it as it provides higher liquidity.
- More investors and traders are drawn to the market due to its price stability and depth.
- A token listed on a reputable exchange signals its legitimacy to the community.
- As exchanges conduct a thorough vetting process before listing, it increases investors’ trust in the token.
- The token becomes instantly available worldwide, generating significant interest from institutions.
- As exchanges are trusted, you attract a large number of new users, which helps expand your community. You also have many partners and developers who are happy to integrate with your wallets and DeFi services.
- Exchanges help establish a market-driven evaluation of your token’s price.
- As your token’s value surges, its use in cross-platform applications increases.
- Exchanges generate significant buzz and hype around token launches on their platforms. This attracts media and triggers social media management.
Crypto Token Listing Can be Challenging
While listing your crypto token on a reputable exchange is highly beneficial, it comes with its own challenges. Exchanges don’t welcome every new token with open arms, and their due diligence can take several months, resulting in significant delays across many systems.
- Exchanges demand detailed documentation and technical audits before listing a token.
- You must convince the exchange of your token’s utility and security standards.
- The cost of listing on top-tier exchanges is really highly, ranging from tens of thousands to millions of dollars.
- Exchanges also charge additional fees, such as market-making fees, legal consultation fees, and promotional campaign fees.
- Exchanges require you to provide liquidity through market makers or reserve funds. In case of low liquidity, exchanges usually delist the tokens.
- Slots are limited, and thousands of tokens compete over them, making it extremely difficult to get a listing unless you have a stronger community and a unique use case.
- Exchanges conduct extensive vetting of the creator’s background and tokenomics, which can take up to several months. A single red flag will make you ineligible to list your token.
- You will be required to maintain momentum after the listing is complete. In case of poor performance, the exchange delists the token.
This is why careful planning, such as building a strong community, ensuring regulatory compliance, maintaining liquidity, facilitating market-making, and crafting a compelling pitch, is required before listing a token on an exchange.
Types of Exchange Listings: Centralized vs Decentralized
There are two types of exchanges: CEX and DEX. Both have different methodologies and functions, and you will need to approach them with different mindsets.
Listing on a Centralized Exchange (CEX)
Listing on a CEX is often challenging and requires careful planning. To successfully list on a CEX, you must follow these steps.
- Fill out a detailed listing application form and include your whitepaper, tokenomics, team background, legal status, and roadmap.
- Present smart contract audits and legal opinions when asked. As the CEXs conduct a thorough review of the project’s legitimacy, you will need to be patient and comply with their requirements.
- Submit the listing fee and provide liquidity via market makers.
- Provide metrics, such as trading volume potential and user engagement, upon request.
- Provide proof of incorporation and legal counsel on request. Ensure you comply with KYC/AML requirements, as most CEXs do.
- Coordinate with CEX to perform marketing campaigns and AMAs.
Listing on a Decentralized Exchange (DEX)
Listing on a DEX is a significantly different experience from listing on a CEX, as there are no central authorities involved, and you don’t need to comply with legal requirements.
- No approval is required, and anyone can list a token by creating a liquidity pool.
- You need to pair your token with another one and provide it to the liquidity pool to enable trading.
- Make sure the smart contract is secure and verified, then deploy your token to a chain that supports DEXs, like Ethereum.
- Unlike CEX, you don’t receive any marketing and must create your own hype through community-driven efforts.
- Scams and rug pulls are rampant due to the lack of a central authority overseeing the listings.
- Usually, there are no listing fees, but you will still need to pay gas and pool creation fees.
General Pre-Listing Requirements for Your Token
While the rules may vary for CEXs and DEXs, some general rules apply to both before listing your tokens on any exchange. These exchanges use these rules to filter out potential fake ones and scammers, allowing only legitimate token creators to participate.
A Strong Team
A strong crypto team is no longer a bonus when creating tokens; it is a prerequisite. The first thing that exchanges look for is your team’s credibility and reputation in the communities, as a strong team signals trust and long-term viability.
Exchanges typically delve into the technical background of the core team by reviewing their past ventures and public reputation. They prefer fully doxxed members with LinkedIn profiles and legal documents for KYC.
Proven track records, such as successful token launches and the credibility of advisors, can tip the scales in favor of approval.
Liquidity Requirements
Liquidity is the lifeblood of any crypto ecosystem. Exchanges prefer a system with high liquidity as there is no traction or activity without it. High liquidity ensures trades can be executed quickly and at fair prices.
Liquidity helps with price stability and increases investors’ trust. Exchanges usually avoid systems with assets that can be manipulated. You must have sufficient assets to provide paired tokens, as most exchanges require pairing your coin with a stablecoin, such as USDT.
Many exchanges require you to partner with professional market makers to maintain order-book depth and reduce volatility. They will also require you to maintain liquidity through both organic demand and strategic support; otherwise, you risk being delisted.
Solid Tokenomics and Utility
Solid tokenomics and well-defined utility are the backbone of your crypto system, and they entice an exchange to list your token. A good tokenomics means a well-defined supply structure for your token and shows how actively it is traded. Ensure that your burny and mint mechanisms are reliable and secure.
Make it clear how the distribution will be split among the team, investors, contributors, and the community. You should have clear vesting schedules to avoid sudden dumps.
Explain what the real functionality of your token is and what kind of ecosystem integration it has. You should also be clear about the incentives your community will get for holding the tokens. With strong tokenomics and utility, confidence among investors grows. This will solidify your credibility with the exchange and facilitate the easy launch of your token.
Whitepaper and Other Documentation
A whitepaper is a manifesto for your project, and it must include the problem you are solving and how you are solving it. Explain your technology stack used to create the architecture and smart contracts. Provide your complete tokenomics and legal framework.
The whitepaper must also include complete details of your team members and advisors, as well as provide information on the security measures you have taken to mitigate risks and protect your users.
Use a pitch deck for executive summaries, product demos, mockups, token utility, revenue model, and GTM, as visuals are far more powerful than words.
Provide a clear roadmap as it explains both your short-term and long-term goals. Additionally, outline your mid-term goals, such as establishing strategic partnerships to earn investors’ trust and making exchanges comfortable with the launch of your token.
Legal and Regulatory Compliance
The one thing that scares the exchanges more than anything is a legal complication. They will never list your no matter how compelling and perfect it looks, if it can get them into hot water with the authorities.
To avoid an instant rejection by the exchanges, prove to them that you are working within the bounds of local and international laws. You and your team must undergo KYC (Know Your Customer) verification to help prevent fraud.
Utilize AML (Anti-Money Laundering) compliance within your system to monitor transactions and prevent money laundering. Ensure that your token is accurately classified and does not mislead. Hire third parties to access your token’s utility.
Check your jurisdictional requirement before trying to list a token, as this is teh first thing the exchanges check. If your system is not in compliance, it will be rejected immediately.
Smart Contract Audits and Security Checks
Get your smart contracts audited to weed out vulnerabilities like reentrancy. It also prevents the draining of your liquidity pools and increases investor trust.
If your smart contracts are poorly written or not audited, exchanges will immediately reject your token listing. Make your audit reports available publicly to increase trust and build credibility. Additionally, demonstrate that you are conducting ongoing monitoring and offering bug bounties to proactively identify and address any potential security flaws in your ecosystem.
Community Presence
An active community means a stable and secure system, and it is a great way to earn the trust of any exchange. Show your community’s presence on social media platforms like Discord and Telegram, as well as their organic engagement with your system.
Show polls and real-time feedback, and how you worked on them. Highlight when your community stepped up to help solve the issues, and what kind of services are being offered by the developers.
Exchange-Specific Requirements
Even if you prepare for everything mentioned above, you can run into some unforeseen issues, as every exchange has its unique set of rules. These can range from detailed listing forms, where you must provide all the required details, to a minimum trading volume, where you must deposit some tokens to generate fees. A lot of exchanges charge listing fees that can range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, which you must deposit before the token listing.
You may also need to purchase tiered marketing offers, depending on your exchange. If your exchange requires KYC/AML compliance, complete it promptly.
How to List Your Token on a Crypto Exchange
Once you are done with completing all the prerequisites required to launch your token, now is the time for the real action. Launching a token is both exciting and scary at the same time, as you can’t afford anything to go wrong at this point.
Given the effort invested in making this happen, you must follow the steps below to prevent any issues.
Step 1 – Research and Choose the Right Exchange for Your Project
First things first, conduct thorough research to determine which exchange is the best fit for your token launch. Whether you want to go with a CEX or a DEX and how much you can afford to pay for the listings matter a lot in making this decision.
Check their audience and determine the type of legal compliance they require from the systems. Once everything fits into place, go with the exchange you have shortlisted. Don’t rush this process, as it will determine your long-term success.
Step 2 – Ensure Your Token is Ready for the Listing
Ensure that you have completed all the steps outlined in the pre-token launch phase. Double-check your smart contracts, finalize your tokenomics, submit your whitepaper, conduct professional branding, and ensure compliance with all necessary legal requirements.
Create a listing dossier that includes all your relevant documents to give your system a professional appearance. This will increase your impression and help your case with the exchange.
Step 3 – Prepare the Required Documentation
Prepare and submit all the required documents with the exchange. These documents include a whitepaper, legal opinions, a pitch deck, and token details. Hire a legal team or a lawyer to assist with this process.
Ensure that every document is thoroughly double-checked before submission. The documents should be proofread for any mistakes and must contain proper grammar to look professional. Arrange them in order and create a zip file or a folder to facilitate the exchange.
Add a cover letter and links to your website and social media so the exchange can easily audit them. Direct the exchange to your community to help them check the activity.
Ensure Liquidity and Market-Making Setup is in Order
To ensure a stable exchange of trading and healthy volume, you must have a proper setup for liquidity and market-making. Create liquidity pools by pairing your token with a stablecoin and offering LP rewards to attract investors who can provide additional liquidity.
Engage professional market makers like GSR and Wintermute, as they can maintain order book health by placing buy/sell orders. This helps reduce the spread and increase the stability of your liquidity pool.
Don’t forget to top up your liquid pools regularly and adjust market-making parameters by using dashboards. Engage your investors to participate in liquidity to decentralize control.
Step 5 – Apply for the Listing and Pay the Fees
Everything on your side is done, and now is the time to make it official. Use the exchange’s portal to apply for your listing. Visit their website and search for “Token Listing” or a similar option.
Fill out the form by providing all the required information accurately. Hire a professional if you need to. Once submitted, follow up through email or Telegram.
Pay the required fees for your listing. Exchanges like Binance charge from $100,000 to $1 million+, while KuCoin lists your tokens for $20,000 to $100,000. You can also offer to pay with your coins, provided they are structured correctly.
Step 6 – Wait for the Approval
Once your project is submitted, patience is the key. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) take a considerable amount of time to review your application, as they follow proper due diligence. This includes reviewing your team members, your documents, tokenomics, smart contracts, website, community, history, and scope.
This may take up to 3 months from the time of submission to be approved, depending on the quality of your paperwork. Exchanges may request additional documents or audit reports, further delaying the process.
Communicate with the exchange through their official channels and keep your community engaged in the meantime.
Step 7 – Post-Listing Steps
Once your token is listed on an exchange, follow these steps immediately.
- Announce your listing with the community.
- Monitor trading activity by using dashboards. Engage market makers and adjust your liquidity pools accordingly.
- Be active and provide 24/7 support to traders and users.
- Follow the roadmap by delivering milestones. Share your progress with the community and maintain transparency in all aspects of your work.
- Run campaigns and engage with influencers to drive growth.
- Stay updated on the regulations and follow them religiously to avoid any legal complications.
Listing Your Crypto Token on Popular Exchanges
Listing your token is a major milestone, but listing it on a popular exchange is a significantly larger achievement. These exchanges have their own unique rules that make them trusted not only within their community but also worldwide. Let’s help you list your token on five of the biggest crypto exchanges available in the world right now.
Token Listing on Binance
Binance is the world’s biggest and most influential CEX. Not everyone can list their token on Binance, as the exchange has strict protocols in place to ensure the safety and security of its users.
To list your token on Binance, you must have strong project fundamentals. These include a clear use case, an experienced team, robust smart contract security, a proven audit history, and adherence to regulatory compliance.
Your project must have a large and active community with organic growth. You must be transparent with them through regular updates, AMAs, and feedback.
You can’t list your token on Binance with market-makers to reduce spread and volatility. You must be available on smaller exchanges with good volume and be able to support liquidity pools and fees. Once you have completed the checklist, you will be eligible to list your token on Binance.
Token Listing on Coinbase
Coinbase is a renowned exchange due to its emphasis on legal compliance and robust security measures. To list your token on Coinbase, you must comply with regulatory requirements, including KYC/AML.
Hire professional lawyers and programmers to develop the best and most secure smart contracts. Utilize third-party services and bug bounties to identify and resolve any vulnerabilities. Ensure that your token is ERC-20 and SPL-compatible.
Prove that your system has a substantial following and is capable of further growth through organic means. Coinbase favors large, active communities that demonstrate organic growth. Once you complete these requirements, you can submit your token for listing on Coinbase.
Token Listing on Kraken
Kraken, one of the leading CEX exchanges in the world, is known for its traditional and security-first approach. To list your token on Kraken, complete your due diligence, which includes verifying legal compliance, security protocols, team credibility, and market integrity.
Kraken prefers tokens with a long-term vision and sustainable tokenomics. Ensure that your token has a real-world use case and that your system provides decentralized governance to its active communities.
Once you submit your application to Kraken, they conduct a preliminary review to assess its viability. Kraken’s internal team then performs an in-depth due diligence, and the executives make the final decision.
Token Listing on Bybit
Bybit is a rising star in the cryptocurrency exchange industry. With over 64 million users and a daily trading volume of $4.1 billion, it can’t be ignored. They have high liquidity, global reach, and one of the best marketing support programs available to token listers.
The only criterion that interests Bybit the most is an active community with organic growth. Their minimum requirements include 15,000 Telegram/Discord members, over 100,000 Twitter followers, 3,000-8,000 attendees per Twitter Spaces session, and over 100,000 monthly website visits.
If you fulfill all these criteria, you can apply to list your token on Bybit. Ensure that all these numbers are organic, or you risk being blacklisted for the future.
Token Listing on Bitget
Bitget welcomes emerging tokens, particularly those aligned with Web3 and DeFi trends. They also check community metrics, such as user numbers and Twitter engagement, as parameters to shortlist the tokens.
Bitget offers flexible listing models, such as community projects, that require only community metrics. For non-community projects, you must show strong tokenomics and institutional backing.
For DEX-based projects, they must demonstrate strong 24-hour trading volume and on-chain liquidity to be eligible for listing their token on Bitget.
Mistakes to Avoid While Listing Your Token
Avoid the following pitfalls when listing your tokens on an exchange to prevent disastrous results.
- Rushing the Process: Take your time and review everything before going live. Demo test your smart contracts and offer bug bounties. Hire a team of professionals to create your documents and review them before filing. A single mistake, like a documentation error or a security flaw, can stop your token’s launch or delay it indefinitely.
- Ignoring Compliance: Failing to classify your token or overlooking KYC/AML can lead to trouble with both authorities and the exchange. Hire a lawyer and follow local rules before filing for a token.
- Neglecting Liquidity Planning: A poorly planned liquidity plan can cause the system to crash, leaving users and investors vulnerable. Utilize market makers to minimize spreads and mitigate low volume.
- Relying Only on Hype: Projects with no real utility or bloated community numbers, achieved by using bots, won’t fool any exchange. If your system lacks substance, it will be rejected during the exchanges’ preliminary review.
- Weak Documentation: Weak or improper documentation will make you appear unprofessional and create loopholes that can be exploited to reject your token listing. Ensure that your documents are complete and have been audited by a law firm before submission.
How Much Does it Cost for Token Listing on Exchanges?
Token listings on exchanges can cost you from zero to over $1 million, depending on the type of exchange you are using and what is their market standing.
Community-driven or DEX listings are often free, such as Uniswap, which allows permissionless listing at zero fee. However, you will need to bootstrap your own liquidity and create your own credibility through marketing.
CEX exchanges are never free and are divided into three tiers depending on their pricing and features
- Tier 3: Costs $10,000 – $20,000 and are ideal for early-stage projects. These include Coinstore and Probit.
- Tier 2: Costs $50,000 – $250,000, and these include BitMark and BingX. They offer services such as token promotions and AMAs.
- Tier 1: Costs $300,000 – $1,000,000+ and are reserved for high-profile projects with VC backing and global demand. These include Binance, Coinbase, and OKX.
Plan Your Token Exchange Listing With Techtonic Marketing
Techtonic Marketing has highly qualified teams and over 8 years of experience in the crypto marketing space. We have been catering to emerging and established ecosystems, helping them launch their tokens through strategic planning, advising on legal compliance, marketing the tokens through our partnered influencers, and assisting with listings on exchanges.
With our expertise in social media and community building, we make your system visible to both users and investors. Our strategies help your token gain traction on exchanges and establish trust with both your existing community and newcomers.
We are not here for quick campaign wins. We build marketing foundations that compound over months and years, creating sustainable competitive advantages that establish lasting market position and multiply your community.
If you’re ready to build a marketing strategy that delivers real growth, schedule a free consultation with our experts today to learn how the Techtonic Marketing team will help you succeed in achieving your growth targets.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
How long does it take to get a token listed on an exchange?
From a few weeks to several months, depending on the type of exchange and the quality of your submitted documents.
Can I list my token for free?
Only on DEX and launchpads, as they are community-driven. Institute-driven exchanges, or CEXs, typically charge a listing fee that can exceed $1 million.
What documents are required for listing a token?
The documents required for listing a token include whitepaper, pitch deck, legal opinion letter, smart contract audit report, token details sheet, team & advisors profiles, website & social media links, and community metrics.
Can a new project be listed directly on Binance or Coinbase?
No. Coinbase or Binance has strict criteria that make it impossible for new projects to list their tokens on their platforms. One such criterion is your presence on a smaller platform first.
What are common reasons token listing applications get rejected?
Incomplete documentation, weak utility, low liquidity & trading volume, suspicious community, smart contract risks, regulatory red flags, rug-pull risks, impersonation, and trademark issues.
Is it better to start with a DEX or CEX?
It depends on your project’s goals and resources. If you are in an early stage and prefer decentralization, go with a DEX. If you have strong legal compliance and are ready for KYC/AML, go with a CEX.
