Test a new Solana trading bot before you trust it

A short test every trader should run on a new Solana bot before depositing real size: deposit small, withdraw it, verify on-chain.

Every Solana trader gets the same pitch. Some bot or app promises easier, faster, cheaper trades. Free to start, fee per trade, on-chain. Sounds good. Before you load it with real size, you should answer one question: can I get my money back out, or is this thing one-way?

The test is short. Deposit a tiny amount, immediately withdraw it, watch the chain. Five minutes (plus a 60-second withdrawal cooldown), costs you a fraction of a cent in network gas. If the withdrawal works, you have evidence the bot will let your funds out when you want them out. If it doesn't, you found out at five-cent risk instead of five-hundred-dollar risk.

This post walks through that test on T7 Pilot, with the actual numbers from a real round-trip done a few minutes ago. Pick any other Solana trading bot and the same script applies; the specific UI changes, the principle does not.

The deposit-and-withdraw test, in general

The basic shape works for any custodial or semi-custodial system that holds your funds:

1. Send a small amount in (think a few dollars worth of SOL, not enough to cry over)
2. Request a withdrawal back to a wallet you control
3. Verify the on-chain transfer arrived at the destination address
4. Compare the amount you sent in to the amount you got back; the only gap should be Solana network gas, around 5,000 lamports per transaction [solana-fees]

What you are watching for is friction or surprise. Withdrawals that take days. Withdrawals that get rejected. Withdrawals that arrive smaller than expected without a clear reason. Hidden percentage cuts. Limits that only show up when you try to leave. Support tickets that go nowhere when you ask why.

Any of those is a signal to slow down before depositing more. The bot you're testing might be fine, but you have not seen the proof yet, so do not trust it with real size.

Step 1: open the bot and get your trading wallet

Open T7 Pilot in Telegram and run /wallet. The bot creates a Solana keypair on first use and shows you the public address. Send a small amount of SOL to that address from Phantom, Solflare, Backpack, Ledger, or whatever you usually hold SOL in. Confirmations take roughly 15 seconds.

For this walkthrough, I funded wallet #2 with exactly 0.02 SOL. Starting state via /wallets:

Your Wallets

#0 Primary       3k5e...JajMG    Balance: 0.3682 SOL
#1               5gZs...Ncvop    Balance: 0.0447 SOL
#2  (active)     CvNj...bdqRf    Balance: 0.0200 SOL
#3 (test3)       Bqs4...UY6H     Balance: 0.0000 SOL

Wallet #2 is the source for the test. Wallet #3 is freshly created and empty; it stands in for "your main wallet" as the destination.

Step 2: withdraw it back

The command is /withdraw <destination_address> <amount>. To empty a wallet completely, use max as the amount. This was added specifically because new users running the deposit-and-withdraw test want to verify the full round-trip, and a numeric reserve standing in the way at the trust-establishment moment is the wrong default.

/withdraw Bqs4...UY6H max

The bot replies with a confirmation card showing the exact amount about to leave the wallet, the destination, and the disclosure on what stays behind:

⚠️ Confirm withdrawal
Amount: ~0.018995 SOL (empties the wallet)
To: Bqs4...UY6H
~0.001 SOL stays in the wallet (Solana account minimum). No platform fee on withdrawals.
Type yes to confirm, or anything else to cancel.

That ~0.001 SOL line matters. It is not a fee the bot is taking. It is Solana's rent-exempt minimum [solana-rent]. The chain refuses transfers that would leave a system account below roughly 890,880 lamports, so the wallet has to keep a small reserve to remain valid. You can see the same line on any other Solana bot that lets you "empty" a wallet, even if they word it differently.

Type yes and the bot signs the transfer:

✅ Withdrawal sent.
Amount: 0.018995 SOL (wallet emptied)
To: Bqs4...UY6H
Signature: 43qDrJFSiCj...44Ages

The signature is the on-chain receipt. Every Solana wallet and explorer accepts it as a query [solscan-tx-1].

Step 3: verify on Solscan, not in the bot

This is the part most users skip. The bot says "withdrawal sent" and you take its word for it. Don't.

Open Solscan (or Solana Beach, or any explorer you trust) and paste the signature. You should see:

• Transaction status: Success
• A SOL transfer from wallet #2 to wallet #3 of exactly 0.018995 SOL
• A network fee of around 0.000005 SOL paid to the validator

If any of those is wrong, you have caught a real problem before depositing real size.

For my test, the first transfer landed cleanly [solscan-tx-1]. To round-trip and prove the math both ways, I drained wallet #3 back to wallet #2 with another /withdraw max. That transfer landed too [solscan-tx-2], moving 0.017995 SOL.

Closing state:

Your Wallets

#0 Primary       Balance: 0.3682 SOL  (untouched)
#1               Balance: 0.0447 SOL  (untouched)
#2               Balance: 0.0190 SOL  (received the round-trip)
#3 (test3)       Balance: 0.0010 SOL  (Solana rent-exempt minimum)

The math: what you put in equals what you get out

Wallet #2 started with 0.0200 SOL. After two max withdrawals (one each direction), wallet #2 ended with 0.0190 SOL. The 0.0010 SOL gap covers two things: a small amount of network gas paid to Solana validators, around 5,000 lamports per transaction [solana-fees], and the rent-exempt minimum that has to stay in wallet #3 to keep that account valid [solana-rent].

There is no platform fee in that gap. T7 Pilot charges 0.75% on successful trades [t7-pilot-page], not on deposits, withdrawals, transfers between your own wallets, skipped trades, or failed swaps. The full breakdown is in /help fees inside the bot.

If you ran the same test on a different bot and the gap was bigger than the network gas plus the rent minimum, that's a cut you weren't told about up front. That is exactly the kind of thing the test is designed to catch.

What this test does not prove

A successful round-trip proves the withdrawal path works today. It does not prove:

• That every future withdrawal will succeed (run a second test if you've been away for months)
• That the bot is technically secure (it just proves you can get your money out)
• That the trading itself is profitable (a separate question)
• That the team is honest about other claims like fee rate or referral payouts (you can verify those on-chain separately too)

What the test does is move you from "I have no evidence this works" to "I have evidence the basic exit path works." That is a real upgrade in your information state, and it costs around half a cent.

The script for any new bot

1. Fund the bot wallet with a tiny amount, around 0.02 SOL is fine.
2. Wait for the deposit to confirm in your trading wallet view.
3. Withdraw it back to a wallet you fully control. Use a "max" or "withdraw all" option if the bot supports it.
4. Open the transaction signature in a block explorer and verify the destination, amount, and status.
5. Subtract: deposit minus withdrawal. The gap should be tiny (network gas plus the rent minimum if you fully emptied the wallet). If it isn't, ask the bot's support why before you fund again.

T7 Pilot makes this test easy because the max keyword is built in and there is no platform fee on the withdrawal path. Other bots have their own answer; the test gives you a way to compare them on something more useful than landing-page copy.

If you want to run this test on T7 Pilot, the bot is at @T7PilotBot on Telegram. The full command list is at t7systems.net/pilot, and the support bot @T7Pilot_Mod_bot will answer questions about funding or withdrawing if you get stuck.