How to Create a Coin on Pump.fun: Costs, Options and Pitfalls

How do you create a coin on Pump.fun?

You create a coin on Pump.fun by filling in a short launch form and signing one transaction. The form asks for a name, a ticker, a description and an image. You then choose a few options that decide how the coin is paired and who receives its creator fees, decide whether to make a first buy, and confirm. Within seconds the coin exists on its own bonding curve and anyone can trade it.

That simplicity is what made Pump.fun popular with creators. It also means launching a coin is easy and making it matter is very hard. This guide covers the mechanics, the real costs and the decisions that are difficult to undo. If you have not used Pump.fun before, read what Pump.fun is first, then come back.

Before you start

You need three things before opening the create form:

1. A Solana wallet you control. Either the wallet you use in the Pump.fun app, or an external wallet such as Phantom. Our Phantom guide explains setup and security.
2. Some SOL. Enough for the network costs of the launch, plus whatever you want to spend on a first buy, plus a margin for later transactions.
3. A referral code on your wallet. Launching itself has no platform fee, but trading does. Open pump.fun/join/NEWUSER50 and confirm NEWUSER50 before your first purchase. You get 10% off trading fees and can receive up to $50 on your first deposit. The Pump.fun referral code page has the exact steps and deadlines.

Step by step: the launch form

Name and ticker

The name is what people see; the ticker is the short symbol. Keep both short, readable and distinct. Avoid names that imitate an existing brand, a real person or a famous coin. Copycat names confuse buyers, and impersonation can create legal problems for you.

Description and image

The description appears on the coin page. Say plainly what the coin is: a joke, a community token, an experiment. Do not promise returns, utility you do not intend to build, or a roadmap you cannot deliver. The image is the coin’s face in the feed; use something you own or have the right to use.

Social links

You can usually add links such as a website or social accounts. Only add links you control. Empty or fake links make a coin look like a scam, which hurts its chances more than having none.

Pairing

Pump.fun’s fees page says a coin may be launched paired with SOL, with USDC, with another supported pair asset, or in some cases with another Pump.fun coin. SOL is the most common choice. The pairing decides which asset buyers pay in and which asset fees are collected in. SOL- and USDC-paired coins use tiered PumpSwap fees after graduation; other pairings use a flat schedule.

Creator fees or Holder Rewards

By default, the creator fee on each trade goes to you. At launch you can instead choose Holder Rewards, which sends that fee to holders of the coin. Pump.fun says holders need a minimum balance, currently the equivalent of US$20, and that distributions are paid net of costs and are not guaranteed. This choice cannot be changed after launch except through a community takeover. On Custom Pair coins, the creator sets a flat Holder Rewards rate at launch, from 0.01% up to a platform maximum that the fees page puts at 3% at the time of writing. There is also an option for creators to direct the fee to a charity. The older Cashback mode is no longer available for new launches.

First buy

You can buy some of your own coin in the same flow. Many creators do, so they hold a stake from the start. Remember that this is a trade: it pays the bonding-curve fee and, in the Pump.fun apps, the platform fee. Buying a very large share of your own supply can also make other traders suspicious, because it looks like a setup for selling later.

Confirm

Review everything. Spelling mistakes and wrong images are permanent in practice. Then confirm and sign in your wallet.

What it costs

Item	Cost
Platform fee to create	None, for any pairing
Network	Solana transaction fee plus the SOL deposit for the token’s accounts
First buy (optional)	1.25% curve fee, plus 0.45% platform fee in the apps (0.40% with a referral code)
Graduation to PumpSwap	0.015 SOL

All figures are from the official fees page as updated on 17 October 2026. For the full trading-fee picture, see Pump.fun fees explained.

How creators earn

Every trade on your coin pays a creator fee. On the bonding curve it is 0.30% of each trade. After graduation, the canonical PumpSwap pool pays a tiered creator fee that is actually higher at small market caps, 0.95% in the second SOL tier, and then falls as the coin grows, down to 0.05% at the top tier. If you chose Holder Rewards, that share goes to holders instead.

The honest picture: creator fees only matter if people trade your coin, and most coins see little trading after the first hours. Treat creator income as a possibility, not a plan.

What happens after launch

Your coin starts at the bottom of its bonding curve. Buys push the price up; sells push it down. The coin page shows progress toward graduation. If buying continues and the market cap reaches the graduation threshold, Pump.fun migrates the liquidity to PumpSwap automatically. Pump.fun’s bonding curve docs describe this as atomic and irreversible, and say the resulting pool is owned by the protocol.

Most coins never graduate. That is normal and not a sign you did something technically wrong.

Community takeovers

Pump.fun refers to community takeovers, or CTOs, in its fee documentation: a process by which some coin settings, such as Holder Rewards, can change after launch. If you abandon a coin, a community may take it over. If you plan to stay involved, being visible and honest with holders is the best protection against that.

A launch-day checklist

Run through this list before you press confirm. Every item is something creators regularly get wrong.

Check	Done?
Referral code NEWUSER50 confirmed on the wallet before any purchase	☐
Name and ticker spelled correctly and not copying another coin	☐
Image is yours or properly licensed	☐
Description is honest and makes no promises of returns	☐
Social links are real accounts you control	☐
Pairing and Holder Rewards choice are deliberate	☐
First-buy amount is one you can afford to lose	☐
Some SOL left over for later transactions	☐

Web or mobile?

You can launch from the Pump.fun web app with a connected wallet or from the mobile app. The fee rules are the same: no platform fee to create, and the platform fee on any trade placed in either app. The mobile app matters for one extra reason. Pump.fun’s Deposit Match Program Terms say referral codes for the deposit reward are applied in the mobile app, within 24 hours of first using it and before your first in-app purchase. If you are new and want the up-to-$50 reward, start there, then launch from whichever interface you prefer.

After you launch: being a decent creator

Creators who stick around tend to do a few simple things. They say clearly in public whether they hold any of the supply and whether they intend to sell. They do not create extra wallets to fake demand. They answer questions honestly, including “is this just a joke?” And they avoid paying for hype from accounts that promote anything for a fee. None of this guarantees a coin will survive, but it avoids the behaviour that turns a harmless experiment into something that hurts other people.

Mistakes to avoid

• Launching before applying a referral code. Your first buy would carry the higher platform fee and may cost you the deposit reward.
• Copying an existing coin’s name. It confuses buyers and invites accusations of a scam.
• Promising returns. Statements that a token will rise in value are misleading and can have legal consequences.
• Using a wallet that holds your savings. Launch from a dedicated wallet.
• Ignoring taxes. Creator fees and trading gains may be taxable where you live.

Should you launch a coin at all?

Launching a coin on Pump.fun is cheap and fast, which is exactly why there are so many coins competing for attention. Most get very little. If you launch, do it for fun or as an experiment with money you can lose, be honest about what the coin is, and read is Pump.fun safe? so you can spot the tactics other traders may use around your coin.

And before any of that, put the cheapest step first: apply referral code NEWUSER50 so your trades cost less from day one.