What Is a Launchpad? Meaning in Crypto
Launchpad: A launchpad is a platform that lets anyone create a new token and start trading it at once, usually on a bonding curve that later moves the token to a DEX pool.
Key takeaways
- A memecoin launchpad lets anyone create a token in minutes, with no code and no starting liquidity of their own.
- On pump.fun, trades on the bonding curve carry a 1.25% total fee: 0.30% to the creator and 0.95% to the protocol.
- When a pump.fun coin graduates, it gets a pool on PumpSwap, the pump.fun DEX, for a one-time 0.015 SOL fee.
A launchpad is a platform that lets anyone create a new crypto token and start trading it at once. For memecoins, the launchpad handles the contract, the starting price and the first liquidity, so a creator needs only a name, a ticker and an image. Pump.fun on Solana is the best-known example.
How a launchpad works
Most memecoin launchpads price a new coin on a bonding curve: a formula that raises the price as people buy and lowers it as they sell. No order book or outside liquidity is necessary.
Take a new coin on pump.fun. Each buy and sell on the curve pays a 1.25% total fee: 0.30% to the creator and 0.95% to the protocol (pump.fun fees). If enough people buy, the coin completes its curve and graduates. Pump.fun then gives it a canonical pool on PumpSwap, its own DEX, for a one-time 0.015 SOL fee. After that, the coin trades like any other DEX token.
Why it matters for traders
Launchpads make it cheap to launch a coin, so thousands of new coins appear every day. That creates the early-entry chances that memecoin traders look for, and also most of the losses. Many traders watch launchpad feeds in a trading terminal and use bots to buy in the first seconds.
Before you buy a launchpad coin, read is pump.fun safe and the rug pull guide.