I've been around on the darknet for a while, with lots of market coming and going.
I see a lot of people asking how to create their own market, without them having any kind of coding/opsec/marketing knowledge.

So, that's why I created this checklist, for people who are interested in creating a dnm.
This checklist is not meant to discourage you, but rather let you know it is not just creating a website and expecting it to make thousands of dollars every week.

I have made my own market (/d/AtlasMarket), it took me almost 2 years to build the market.
So I do have some experience in this field.

Before doing anything, you need to think about what you want to achieve.
Branding is very important. Come up with a good name, image.
Because there is a chance there was already a market with the name you are thinking of.
So do your research first.



First of all, don't think you can do this all by yourself, like I did.
You will be working years on it, trying to make everything perfect. Hire a team, or work with people you know, who have a good amount of coding knowledge and know how to keep their mouth shut.

Secondly, you need to decide how to build your market.
Keep in mind, no Javascript is ever used on markets, because it exposes your users' anonymity and security.

So, a hard pass for all javascript frameworks like React, Nextjs, Angular and such.

It's best to program the market using a compiled language like Go, Rust, or C (If you are really crazy)
This is good because, even if LE would break in to the servers, they can't do shit, because it is just compiled and they can't see any source.
This method is difficult for most people, and does require a lot of knowledge.

Maybe a better option in terms of developer experience, would be something like PHP/Laravel.
Laravel is an amazing web framework and has a lot of tools like Authentication, Cron jobs, And more out of the box.
This is probably the best framework for building darknet markets (in my opinion)

You would also need to learn following:
- Relational databases (I recommend MySQL, because it is a proven battle-tested database) (This would be used to store all user, order, product info)
- Learning how to scale your database is a must, otherwise your market will crash if it gets popular (Use foreign keys, max chars, sharding)
- Monero daemon (If you want to accept Monero payments for your DNM)
- Bitcoin daemon (If you want to accept Bitcoin payments for your DNM)
- CSS/Tailwind (Tailwind is a CSS library which helps you build amazing interfaces, no matter how functional/good your dnm is, if it looks shit, people will avoid)
- Cron jobs (Tasks that run on a predefined time on a server. Ex: Checking payment status of an order very 5 minutes)
- PGP encryption (It is important to integrate PGP into your dnm, if you use PHP/Laravel you can use php-gnupg)
- Source control, very important to keep track of changes, especially if working in a team (Do not trust Github or any cloud providers, buy a VPS from an offshore, monero & tor friendly hosting provider (more on that below) you can host your own git repo from there)
- Learn API's, to fetch crypto prices, there are some good free services out there
- Learn how to cache data, to decrease your database reads



- Minimize page loading speeds (Bundle your CSS and use a spritesheet to minimize the amount of requests being sent to your server, thanks to /u/Paris for this one)
- USE NGINX/OPENRESTY (Do not use any other webserver)
- If you are really getting big, you should integrate /d/Endgame ddos filter. This firewall is also used by /d/Dread, /d/AtlasMarket and many others
- Buy enough servers from reliable providers, full list here: kycnot[dot]me and /post/cedc0f1054d73128e8e2
- Make sure to buy enough servers with enough CPU and RAM, one server will not cut it.
You need one for backend, frontend (Endgame), Database, Monerod, Bitcoind, Git repo
- Make sure to change SSH login ports, disable password login, and NEVER login to your servers without using Torify
- Disable server SSH logs and other logs
- Pay your servers on time! (USING XMR)
- Split your servers under different accounts, so if one would get reported or ceised, no link can be made with the others
- Never use the same password twice!
- Perform regular checks on your server (disk size, network bandwidth, htop)
- Add captchas to your forms, logins, checkouts, to help mitigate bot attacks
- Create a pgp.txt, links.txt file, it is a market standard.



- If you want to be able to share your market on Dread, and create your own sub, you should make sure your market is compliant with all rules listed here: /page/marketstandards
- Hire a PR/marketing guy (you won't have enough time urself)
- Program an admin panel for your site, to manage disputes, tickets, messages and more. Use PGP authentication and host it on tor, never share the link with it. (THIS IS A MUST)
- If your market is over 6 months old, CONGRATULATIONS!, you can be announced on /d/marketannouncements
- List your market on Dntrust, tor.fish, and other link directories to gain user attention
- Organize giveaways, referrals, donation campaigns to attract new buyers
- Make sure to have a bug bounty program active
- Organize free vendor waivers for market refugees

Even if you did all of this, it is still not guaranteed you will have success.
There are a lot of markets out there, and some are basically a monopoly. So you also need to have a bit of luck.
If you are lucky, and a large market exits, or gets seized, you could try to take over.


There is probably a lot of items that I missed, so if you think of something that is not listed, comment below.
If you have any questions, you can always DM me for help.