What a coin is on Pump.fun

Every coin launched here is a standard on-chain token with a fixed supply. Trading starts the moment the create transaction lands. You are not waiting for a listing, a market maker, or a liquidity raise.

A typical launch includes:

• Name — the full name shown on the coin page
• Symbol / ticker — short, usually 3–6 characters
• Description — the blurb on the coin page and in social previews
• Image — the visual that appears across the feed and coin page
• Socials (optional) — links to X, Telegram, or a website

Those fields are metadata. They do not change the bonding-curve math. They do change how the coin is seen, shared, and recognized in the feed.

How the bonding curve works

Every coin starts on a bonding curve: a deterministic pricing function that quotes a buy and sell price from on-chain reserves. There is no order book, no market makers, and no off-chain matching. The price you pay is a function of how many tokens are already in circulation.

The curve is a constant-product AMM, similar to Uniswap. Two virtual reserves — quote (usually SOL) and the coin’s supply — are multiplied together to form an invariant. Every trade adjusts one reserve up and the other down to keep that invariant constant.

The result:

• Every buy moves the price up.
• Every sell moves the price down.
• Price impact scales with trade size. Large trades get a worse fill than small ones.
• There is no market-maker front-running, because there are no market makers.

That is why a new coin is tradable from second one. The curve is the market.

How a coin runs

“Running” is not a special mode in the program. It is what happens when buy flow outpaces sell flow for long enough that price walks up the curve.

Mechanically, a run looks like this:

1. The coin is created and appears in the live feed.
2. Buyers send quote into the curve. Virtual quote reserves rise. Virtual token reserves fall. Spot price increases.
3. If more buyers arrive because they saw the move, the tape, or the coin page, that next wave pays a higher price than the last.
4. Sellers can exit into the same curve at any time. A run continues only while net flow stays positive.
5. If selling dominates, the same math works in reverse. Price walks back down.

There is no hidden book and no off-chain match. If a coin is moving, it is because someone is trading it on-chain.

Most coins do not run far. Many trade briefly after launch and then go quiet. A quiet curve is still a market — it is just a market with little demand.

Graduation to PumpSwap

Once a coin’s market cap on the bonding curve hits the graduation threshold, the curve is closed and the liquidity is migrated atomically to PumpSwap. From that point the coin trades on PumpSwap’s pool.

Graduation is automatic and irreversible. There is no human step.

When a coin graduates:

• Trading on the bonding curve stops.
• Accumulated quote plus the reserved token inventory seed the PumpSwap pool.
• LP tokens from that pool are burned. That initial liquidity is not withdrawable by a creator.
• Pump.fun does not seed or remove this liquidity after graduation. The pool is owned by the protocol.

Graduation is a liquidity milestone, not a quality rating. A graduated coin can still fall. An ungraduated coin can still trade. The program only moves the venue when the threshold is met.

Fees

The bonding curve charges a total trading fee, split between the coin’s creator and the protocol. After graduation, the coin trades under PumpSwap’s fee schedule. See the full fee schedule for exact percentages.

Fees are taken on the trade. They do not change whether a coin runs. They do change net proceeds on every buy and sell.

What new traders should actually look at

If you are new, the useful questions are operational, not narrative.

Where is this coin in its life?
On the curve, or already on PumpSwap? Price discovery is different in each venue. On the curve, price is the curve. After graduation, price is the pool.

Is anyone trading it right now?
A run requires flow. Check recent buys and sells, not only the last printed price. A candle with no follow-through is not a market.

How concentrated is the book of holders?
A small number of wallets can move a young coin a long way in either direction. That is normal on a new curve. It is also why size and exit matter.

Can you explain what you are looking at in one sentence?
Coins that cannot be recognized tend to get skipped in a fast feed. Presentation is not a guarantee of anything. It is part of whether a coin is even noticed.

That last point shows up in outcomes. For example, just a blank token with no socials no image etc will not perform as well statistically.

What is more likely to keep moving

No setup on Pump.fun is a promise. The curve will quote a price for any coin, including ones that never attract a second buyer.

What you see more often among coins that keep trading is not magic. It is continuity:

• The coin stays visible in the live feed instead of disappearing after the first block of trades.
• Buyers and sellers keep showing up after the open, so the tape does not die.
• The page is readable. People can tell coins apart when hundreds are launching at once.
• The story, if there is one, is short enough to spread. Long, unclear pages get less attention in a stream of new launches.
• Early flow is not only one wallet. A single opener can print a green candle. A run needs more than one participant.

Those are observations about attention and flow. They are not a scoring model, and they are not a reason to size into a coin you do not understand.

How to read a coin page without fooling yourself

A useful habit:

1. Confirm the mint and that you are on the real coin page.
2. Note whether the coin is still on the bonding curve or has graduated.
3. Look at the last trades, not only market cap.
4. Decide your invalidation before you click buy. If you cannot name the price or condition that means you are wrong, you do not have a trade.
5. Size as if exit liquidity can vanish. On a new coin, it often can.

The interface makes launching and trading fast. It does not make outcomes even.

Risks that do not go away

• Most coins never graduate.
• Price can fall as fast as it rose. The same curve that reprices up reprices down.
• A run can be one wallet, then silence.
• Graduation does not lock in value. It changes where the coin trades.
• You can lose the entire amount you put into a coin.

Pump.fun makes coins instantly tradable. It does not make them durable.

Want to launch one?

See the step-by-step how to create a coin guide, or jump straight to the launch page.