Price Discovery

Bonding Curve Customised to Projects

All About Bonding Curves

Upon successfully reaching the commitment round target, the token launch enters the price discovery phase utilising a bonding curve mechanism.

The bonding curve begins with the total SOL contributed during the commitment round, paired with the corresponding bonding curve token supply.

Bonding Curve Token Supply Calculation:

100% - Commitment Round Token Allocation - Vesting Allocation - Reserved Liquidity (20%, for Liquidity Pool Migration on Graduation) - DAO Allocation (2%) - Platform Allocation (1%)

From this phase onwards, early supporters can redeem tokens based on their proportional commitments at any time, and are free to buy or sell tokens directly on the bonding curve.

Comparison to Pump.Fun

A key difference between Pump.Build and Pump.fun lies in the way bonding curves are configured.

On Pump.fun, every token launch begins with the same standard setup, and each launch begins with zero real SOL reserves.

In Pump.fun’s token allocation model, 79.31% of the token supply is set aside for the bonding curve, with 20.69% reserved as liquidity for its native liquidity pool (Pump.Swap) upon graduation.

Initial values on Pump.Fun:

• Virtual Token Reserves: 1,073,000,000 tokens

• Virtual SOL Reserves: 30 SOL

• Real Token Reserves: 793,100,000 tokens (≈74% of virtual)

• Real SOL Reserves: 0 SOL initially (i.e. zero liquidity)

Real and Virtual Reserves

Similar to other launchpads, Pump.Build employs both real and virtual reserves based on the project’s token allocation and SOL that was committed to the project.

However, unlike standard implementations, the bonding curve configuration on Pump.Build is not fixed. It varies dynamically for each project based on several factors — including the total contributed, commitment round allocation, and vesting allocation.

This dynamic approach ensures that each bonding curve accurately reflects the project’s launch parameters, creating a fairer and more consistent price discovery process.

This ensures as smooth a price discovery process as possible.

About Real and Virtual Reserves:

Real reserves are the actual tokens and SOL held in the bonding curve, while virtual reserves are conceptual values used for price calculations.

Virtual reserves act as a buffer that reduces price impact when trading. By making the virtual reserves larger than the real reserves, the price movement for a given trade size is smaller.

They also allow the bonding curve to simulate deeper liquidity around current prices without requiring as much actual capital.

On Extremes and the Graduation Cap

In some cases, the amount of SOL required for a project to graduate from its bonding curve may either be too low or prohibitively high, depending on the project's initial parameters.

To solve this, Pump.Build introduces a graduation floor and ceiling mechanic to keep bonding curve graduations within a reasonable range.

Without this mechanic, an oversold token launch may require significantly more SOL to complete the bonding curve due to its exponential nature, which will pose a great challenge to overcome.

For example, a project reaching an amount off 400 SOL during the commitment might require an additional 640 SOL to complete the bonding curve.

To address this, we implement a maximum cap on the SOL required to complete the bonding curve, hence artificially flattening the bonding curve and making it easier to complete.

This maximum cap is calculated dynamically and is set as the lower of:

• A hard ceiling of 80 SOL (adjustable by governance)

• The dynamically calculated amount of SOL needed to complete the curve

In our earlier example, instead of requiring 640 SOL, the project would now only require 80 SOL to complete its curve — a far more attainable target.

Bonding Curve Completion

Once the bonding curve is fully completed, the total SOL and allocated tokens are withdrawn and deposited into a liquidity pool. Liquidity provider (LP) tokens are burned to ensure the liquidity remains permanent and cannot be withdrawn.

This migration may be directed to an external pool such as a Raydium Liquidity Pool, or to Pump.Build’s own liquidity pool infrastructure in the future.

The platform also receives a 3% token allocation, split between:

• 1% to the team

• 2% to the community, governed by token holders for future trading-related decisions

After the bonding curve is completed, the vesting period for the project officially begins, enabling team members to claim tokens according to the predefined vesting schedule.

Alignment of Incentives

Instead of incentivising trading activity to generate fees, Pump.Build is designed to align incentives around successful project graduations. The goal is to reward long-term commitment and meaningful progress, rather than short-term speculation.

This is achieved through several mechanisms:

First, a 10% selling penalty (adjustable by governance) is imposed on sellers before the project has graduated. This penalty discourages early selling and benefits existing holders, while also enabling the project to complete its bonding curve earlier.

Note: The selling penalty itself remains in the pool, as the seller receives 10% less in SOL.

This effectively increases the virtual SOL reserve, which reduces the price impact of each trade.

As a result, the token price does not drop as sharply as it would under normal selling conditions, maintaining greater price stability for the project and its community.

Second, trading fees are shared with the community who have staked Pump.Build tokens. These trading fees are automatically distributed through our staking mechanism, and users will be able to claim rewards proportional to their staked amount.

Lastly, as mentioned above, when a project successfully graduates, a small portion of its tokens is automatically allocated to the Pump.Build team and the community.

Any subsequent trading of these community tokens will be subject to governance votes, with proceeds from sales redistributed to stakers at regular intervals.

This creates a recurring benefit for long-term supporters and further strengthens alignment between the platform, founders, and community.

Quality Over Quantity

While our system may be unconventional, we believe it fosters a healthier ecosystem — one where success is shared, incentives are truly aligned, and meaningful progress is rewarded at every stage.

By embedding these mechanisms directly into the price discovery and bonding curve completion process, Pump.Build ensures that price is not merely a product of hype, insiders, or sniping — but a reflection of real demand, community support, and transparent mechanics.

In doing so, we’re not just helping projects find their market price. We’re helping them earn it.