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The launch curve
A coin starts on its own curve: x · y = k from the pair's start market cap. Every buy moves the price up, every sell moves it down, until the curve sells out.
A coin's price is set by its launch curve, later by its Uniswap pool, and by nothing else. There is no order book and no listing price to negotiate: the curve quotes every trade from what it holds.
How the curve works
At launch, the coin's whole supply sits on its own Pons curve. The curve prices it with the constant-product rule, x · y = k, as if it also held a reserve of the pair asset from the start. That reserve is virtual: nobody paid it in, and nobody can take it out. It only sets the start market cap.
Every buy adds the asset and takes coins out, so the price goes up; every sell does the opposite. The more the curve has sold, the more each further coin costs.
Not all of the supply is for sale. The curve keeps part of it back for the Uniswap pool and sells the rest. When the rest is sold out, the curve has raised exactly its target, and the coin graduates.
For a coin paired with ETH, on today's terms:
- Start market cap
- 1.68 ETH for the whole supply
- For sale on the curve
- 714.29M coins (71.4% of supply)
- Kept back for the pool
- 285.71M coins (28.6%)
- The curve completes when it has raised
- 4.2 ETH, after fees
- Market cap at that point
- ≈ 20.58 ETH
- Fee per trade
- 2%
Other pairs follow the same shape, sized by Pons in that asset's units. The Create page shows the numbers for each asset.
What a first buy does
Here is what a single buy does to a fresh coin paired with ETH, after the 2% fee:
| First buy into a fresh ETH curve | Coins out | Share of supply | Market cap after |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 ETH | 55.12M coins | 5.5% | ≈ 1.882 ETH |
| 0.5 ETH | 225.81M coins | 22.6% | ≈ 2.803 ETH |
| 1 ETH | 368.42M coins | 36.8% | ≈ 4.212 ETH |
| 2 ETH | 538.46M coins | 53.8% | ≈ 7.887 ETH |
| 4.286 ETH: the whole allocation | 714.29M coins | 71.4% | ≈ 20.58 ETH |
A buy that asks for more than the curve has left gets everything that is left, and the rest of its payment is refunded in the same transaction. The creator's first buy, made in the launch transaction, is exactly such a first trade on a fresh curve.
The snipe tax
Bots try to buy in the first moments of a launch. For the first 3 seconds, every buy on the curve pays an extra snipe tax on top of the usual fees. It starts at about 97% of the buy and halves again and again until it reaches zero:
| A buy that lands | Snipe tax, on top of the fees |
|---|---|
| In the launch second | 97% of the buy |
| 1 second later | 6.18% of the buy |
| 2 seconds later | 0.19% of the buy |
| 3 seconds later and after | None |
Seconds count from the block time of the launch transaction. The creator's first buy, made in the launch transaction, pays no snipe tax. The tax goes into the coin's fees and is split like the Pons fee; see Fees.
Selling on the curve
Selling works on the curve for as long as the curve is open. It pays out of what buyers have put in, at the curve's price, minus the 2% fee. Because the start reserve is virtual, selling every coin bought from the curve brings the price back to where it started, not lower.
Once the curve has sold its allocation, it stops trading, and the coin moves into its pool.
In the pool
After graduation, the coin's Uniswap v4 pool opens at the curve's last price and follows the same constant-product rule from there, with real liquidity on both sides. The pool's liquidity covers the full price range, so in the pool the price can fall below where the curve started if holders sell. See Graduation and lock.