What is Pump.fun: how the Solana memecoin platform works

Pump.fun is a website and app where anyone can launch their own coin in a couple of minutes. Pick a name and ticker, upload a picture — and the token is already trading. No coding, no presales and no exchange listing. That’s what kicked off the Solana memecoin boom that started in 2024.

How it works

Every new coin starts the same way: 1 billion tokens and no presale. The price is set by a so-called bonding curve — the price goes up when people buy and down when they sell. The earlier you get in, the cheaper you buy.

When a coin’s market cap reaches roughly $69,000, it “graduates”: it moves to PumpSwap, Pump.fun’s own exchange, and from then on trades like a regular token.

What is PUMP

In July 2025 the platform launched its own token, PUMP. Part of the platform’s revenue goes into buying back this token, which is how holders get a share of the income.

Fees

Creating a coin is almost free, while trades carry a percentage fee. Since October 17, 2026, the site and app charge a 0.45% fee per trade. Check the exact numbers on the site before you trade.

Why it’s easy to lose money

Let me be blunt: most coins on Pump.fun die within hours. The classic pattern: the creator and early buyers get in cheap, hype it up in chats and sell everything to whoever comes in later. That’s called a “rug pull” or a “pump and dump”.

If you still want to try:

• only put in an amount you’re fine losing completely;
• don’t trust screenshots of “100x” gains in chats;
• look at how holders are distributed: if a couple of wallets hold most of the coin, that’s a red flag;
• connect a separate wallet for memecoins, not your main one.

Promos

The Pump.fun app currently has a referral promo with up to $50 for new users. You don’t need to chase memecoins for it — small trades are enough.