circle-oCLMM (Concentrated)

Concentrated liquidity pools for capital-efficient liquidity provision

Overview

Concentrated liquidity allows liquidity providers (LPs) to allocate capital within a specific price range rather than across the entire curve. This can significantly increase capital efficiency, but it also introduces active management requirements and additional risk.

Impermanent loss can be significant in CLMM pools. A positive return is not guaranteed. Make sure you understand the risks before providing concentrated liquidity.


Creating pools

Only one pool can exist per token pair per fee tier.

Creating a pool sets initial price. Opening a position opens your first liquidity position.

Costs

Pool creation costs approximately 0.06 SOL, plus position costs that vary based on the selected price range.


Fee tiers and tick spacing

Lower fee tiers generally suit stable or pegged assets, where tighter spreads attract more volume. Higher fee tiers compensate LPs for the added risk of volatile or exotic pairs.

Each fee tier has a corresponding tick spacing:

  • Lower fee tiers use smaller tick spacing for more granular price points

  • Higher fee tiers use larger tick spacing with coarser price points

Fee split

Liquidity providers earn 84% of trading fees. The remaining 16% is allocated to:

  • 12% to RAY buybacks

  • 4% to treasury


Positions

Each CLMM position is represented by an NFT minted to your wallet. This NFT controls ownership of:

  • the liquidity in the position

  • any uncollected fees and rewards

Position NFT behavior

If a position NFT is lost, sold, or burned, the liquidity it represents is also lost.

Multiple positions

There is no limit on the number of positions per wallet. You can open multiple positions in the same pool with overlapping or different ranges. Each position is independent.


Out-of-range positions

When the pool price moves outside your position’s configured range:

  • you stop earning fees and farm rewards

  • your position becomes 100% one-sided (entirely token A or entirely token B)

  • the position remains open (there is no auto-close mechanism)

  • earnings resume automatically if the price returns to your range


Fees

Trading fees accrue to your position, but they are not auto-compounded. They accumulate inside the position until you trigger a collection event.

Collecting fees

Fees are accounted for whenever you modify liquidity, but they are only transferred to your wallet when you:

  • remove any amount of liquidity from the position, or

  • call decrease_liquidity with 0 liquidity (claim fees only)

There is no separate “claim fees” instruction. Fee collection is handled through decrease_liquidity.

Increasing liquidity updates fee accounting but does not transfer fees to you.


Rewards

Farming rewards (if enabled) behave similarly to fees.

Earning requirements

  • your position must be in-range to earn rewards

  • rewards are proportional to your liquidity within the active range

  • out-of-range positions earn nothing until the price returns in-range

Collecting rewards

Rewards are collected automatically when you modify your position’s liquidity (including a decrease_liquidity of 0).


Key concepts

  • Price range: the minimum and maximum prices where your liquidity is active. Tighter ranges can earn more when in-range, but go out-of-range more easily.

  • Quote token convention: the quote token represents how many quote tokens are needed to purchase 1 base token. Common quote tokens include SOL and USDC.

  • Starting price: set during pool creation and defines the initial exchange rate (quote per base).


Summary

CLMM improves capital efficiency by letting LPs concentrate liquidity in a chosen price range. In return, LPs take on more complexity and risk, including the possibility of going out-of-range and becoming one-sided.

Fees and rewards accrue to positions over time, but they are only transferred to your wallet when you reduce liquidity (including a 0-liquidity decrease to claim).

Feature
Behavior

Fee accrual

Manual claim (collected with liquidity changes)

Position NFT

Transferable; new owner controls position

Tick spacing

Tied to fee tier

Out-of-range

Stop earning, no auto-close

Position limits

None; overlapping ranges allowed

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