Memecoin glossary
Bonding curve: how new memecoins set their price
A bonding curve is a formula that sets a new coin's price from how much SOL has been put into it so far. Every buy pushes the price up and every sell pushes it down, until the curve fills and the coin moves to a real pool.
Updated Oct 30, 2026
What is a bonding curve?
Most coins trade in a pool, where buyers and sellers swap against a pile of SOL and tokens. New launchpad coins do not start that way. They start on a bonding curve.
The curve is just math. It holds all the tokens at launch and sells them at a price that rises with each purchase. Put SOL in and tokens come out at the current price. Sell tokens back and the curve returns SOL at a slightly lower price.
On pump.fun, the curve fills at about 85 SOL. At that point the coin migrates: the SOL and remaining tokens move into a real pool on an automated market maker (AMM), and normal trading starts.
Why do early buyers get more?
The curve starts at a very low price. The first 3 SOL in can buy a large share of the whole supply. The same 3 SOL at 80% progress buys a sliver.
This is why snipers, bundles and the dev wallet matter so much. They are usually the early supply. When the coin pumps after migration, that early supply gets sold into everyone who came later.
What should you watch?
Three numbers tell most of the story on a curve coin.
- Progress: how much of the curve is filled. A coin at 20% is a bet on attention, not a coin.
- Speed: how fast progress is moving. Slow progress usually means fading interest.
- Who is buying: many small wallets is healthy. One big wallet is a warning.
How MemeSim simulates it
MemeSim charges the real pump.fun curve swap fee of 1.25% on curve coins, plus its own 1% platform fee, the priority fee and the Solana network fee. Price impact is modeled from the pool's quote-side liquidity, so a big buy into a small curve fills worse than the quote.
The Pulse screen has a Final stretch column that lists coins close to the migration line, so you can watch the moment play out with fake SOL.
Questions
- Do most coins fill the curve?
- No. The large majority of launches fade with a few SOL in and never migrate.
- Can you sell while a coin is still on the curve?
- Yes. The curve buys tokens back at the current price, minus the swap fee and your own price impact.
- What does 90% progress mean?
- The curve is close to full. The coin will migrate to a real pool soon, which many traders treat as a key moment.