Launch a token (LaunchLab)

LaunchLab is Raydium’s primary-market launch venue. A project deposits its token supply into a bonding curve; buyers trade against the curve using SOL (or another quote mint); when a graduation threshold is reached, the curve’s assets migrate automatically to a CPMM pool, and the token becomes freely tradable. This page walks through the whole flow from the project’s side.

What you need

Token mint — the token you want to sell. Must be freshly minted with:
- Full supply minted to your wallet (so you can deposit into the curve).
- Mint authority revoked before launch (otherwise the curve price can be gamed by new mints).
Metadata — name, symbol, image, social links. Metaplex metadata or similar.
Wallet — ~1 SOL for creation rent + vault funding + priority fees (graduation itself is paid by the graduator, not you).
Decision on:
- Curve type (quadratic vs virtual-reserves CPMM).
- Graduation threshold.
- LP disposal policy (Burn / Lock / ToCreator).
- Initial price and cap.

Curve choice

LaunchLab supports two curve families:

Quadratic (`curve_type = 0`)

Price grows quadratically with supply sold. Classic “fair launch” feel — early buyers get a price advantage, late buyers pay more, price accelerates smoothly.

price(s) = a * s^2 + b * s + c

where s is supply sold. Typically a > 0 (convex). The spread between initial and graduation prices is deterministic given a, b, c and the cap. Best for: novelty launches, memes, community-driven projects.

Virtual-reserves CPMM (`curve_type = 1`)

Emulates a constant-product AMM using virtual reserves — the curve behaves like a CPMM with x * y = k but the pool starts off seeded with synthetic tokens that are never withdrawn.

price = virtual_quote_reserve / virtual_base_reserve

As buyers purchase, virtual_base_reserve decreases and virtual_quote_reserve increases — the curve looks identical to what the post-graduation CPMM will look like. Smoother handoff. Best for: launches that want predictable post-graduation price continuity.

UI walkthrough

On raydium.io/launchpad/create:

Token. Paste mint address. UI fetches metadata and displays it.
Curve type. Pick quadratic or virtual-CPMM; UI shows a price chart preview for each.
Graduation threshold. Default: the curve ends after all of total_base_supply has been sold. Alternative: end at a specific graduation_quote_amount (e.g. 85 SOL).
Quote mint. SOL (default), USDC, or any other mint. SOL is standard.
LP disposal policy:
- Burn — LP tokens sent to an unusable address on graduation. Creator can’t pull liquidity; users trust the pool forever.
- Lock — LP tokens sent to a time-locked escrow for lock_duration.
- ToCreator — LP tokens sent to the creator. Most flexible, least trust-minimizing.
Most respected launches use Burn.
Review. UI summarizes: expected price range, initial raise if curve sells out, graduation CPMM configuration.
Sign. One transaction creates the launch state + base vault + quote vault, transfers total_base_supply from your wallet to the base vault.

Programmatic walkthrough

import { Raydium, TxVersion } from "@raydium-io/raydium-sdk-v2";
import { PublicKey } from "@solana/web3.js";
import BN from "bn.js";

const raydium = await Raydium.load({ connection, owner, cluster: "mainnet" });

const baseMint  = new PublicKey("MyNewToken...");
const quoteMint = new PublicKey("So11111111111111111111111111111111111111112"); // SOL

const { execute, extInfo } = await raydium.launchpad.createLaunchpad({
  programId:      LAUNCHPAD_PROGRAM_ID,
  baseMint,
  quoteMint,
  curveType:      0,                           // quadratic
  totalBaseSupply:    new BN("1000000000000000000"),   // 1B tokens with 9 decimals
  graduationQuoteAmount: new BN("85000000000"),         // 85 SOL
  lpDisposalPolicy:   "Burn",
  priceCurveParams: {
    a: new BN("1"),
    b: new BN("0"),
    c: new BN("0"),
  },
  startTime: new BN(Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) + 300),  // start in 5 min
  txVersion: TxVersion.V0,
  computeBudgetConfig: { units: 400_000, microLamports: 50_000 },
});

const { txId } = await execute({ sendAndConfirm: true });
console.log("Launch ID:", extInfo.launchId.toBase58());
console.log("Base vault:", extInfo.baseVault.toBase58());
console.log("Quote vault:", extInfo.quoteVault.toBase58());

Pre-graduation monitoring

Track activity via the API:

const status = await fetch(
  `https://api-v3.raydium.io/launchpad/status?launchId=${launchId}`
).then(r => r.json());

console.log("Sold so far:",       status.baseSold.toString());
console.log("Quote raised:",      status.quoteRaised.toString());
console.log("Current price:",     status.currentPriceUsd);
console.log("Graduation progress:", status.graduationProgress, "%");

Or decode the on-chain state directly:

const launchState = await raydium.launchpad.fetchLaunchState(launchId);
console.log({
  baseSold:   launchState.baseSold.toString(),
  quoteHeld:  launchState.quoteHeld.toString(),
  graduated:  launchState.graduated,
});

Metrics to watch

Sell-through rate: percentage of base sold. Graduation threshold is typically at 80–100% sold.
Current price: derived from the curve at the current baseSold.
Unique buyers: count of distinct payers via indexer.
Buy-vs-sell ratio: early launches see heavy buy pressure that slows.

If sell-through is <10% after 24 hours, consider whether marketing is adequate. LaunchLab doesn’t rescue under-hyped launches.

Graduation

Graduation is a separate transaction, callable by anyone (usually the first person to notice the threshold is reached earns the small graduation_bounty). No action required from you as creator beyond the initial setup.

What graduation does

Reads the vault balances.
Closes the curve (no more buys/sells against it).
Creates a new CPMM pool with the vault balances as initial liquidity.
Mints initial LP tokens based on the vault balances.
Disposes of the LP tokens per the configured policy (Burn / Lock / ToCreator).

After graduation, the CPMM pool is live and trades through normal Raydium routing.

Monitoring for graduation

const launchState = await raydium.launchpad.fetchLaunchState(launchId);
if (launchState.graduated) {
  const cpmmPoolId = launchState.graduatedCpmmPool;
  console.log("Graduated to CPMM pool:", cpmmPoolId.toBase58());
}

Manual graduation

If nobody claims the bounty and you want to force graduation, you can call it yourself:

await raydium.launchpad.graduate({
  launchId,
  txVersion: TxVersion.V0,
  computeBudgetConfig: { units: 600_000, microLamports: 100_000 },
});

Graduation uses significant CU; budget 600k.

Post-graduation

Verify the CPMM pool

const pool = await raydium.cpmm.getPoolInfoFromRpc({ poolId: cpmmPoolId });
console.log("CPMM price:", pool.poolInfo.price);
console.log("CPMM TVL:  ", pool.poolInfo.tvl);

The CPMM pool should have (approximately):

Base token balance: total_base_supply - baseSold + curve remnant.
Quote token balance: quoteRaised - graduationFee.
Price: matches last curve price.

Verify LP disposal

Burn: LP mint’s supply shows sent to 1nc1nerator11111111111111111111111111111111 or similar.
Lock: LP tokens in the escrow PDA with unlock timestamp.
ToCreator: LP tokens in the creator’s wallet.

Collect creator fees

If you configured a creator-fee share, call periodically:

await raydium.launchpad.collectCreatorFees({
  launchId,
  txVersion: TxVersion.V0,
});

Fees accrue from curve trades pre-graduation and from the graduated CPMM pool post-graduation (if ToCreator LP).

Announcement checklist

Post-graduation announcement should include:

Graduation transaction hash.
New CPMM pool ID.
LP disposal proof (burn tx / lock tx / creator wallet).
Aggregator coverage ETA (wallets typically index within 5 minutes).
Token contract verification (match mint address across announcement channels).

Pitfalls

1. Mint authority not revoked

If baseMint.mintAuthority is still a key you control, you can mint new supply and sell into your own curve. Launches that haven’t revoked are commonly flagged as high-risk or unverified by aggregators and listing sites. Revoke before launching.

2. Wrong curve parameters

Quadratic curves with a too high make early tokens free (price ≈ 0) and later tokens absurd. Curves with a too low make the curve almost linear (lose the “bonding” feel). Test parameters on devnet first.

3. Graduation threshold too high

If graduation requires more capital than realistic demand, the curve never graduates and buyers are stuck with tokens they can only sell back to the curve (at worse prices). Pick a threshold you can actually hit.

4. Quote mint scams

If your quote mint is a custom token (not SOL/USDC), users won’t trust it. Stick to SOL or USDC for quote.

5. Forgot to fund base vault

The SDK transfers totalBaseSupply from your wallet on creation. If your wallet doesn’t have it, the tx reverts. Confirm balance before signing.

6. LP disposal = Burn is irreversible

Once LP is sent to 1nc1nerator, nobody can pull liquidity, including you. This is the point — trust-minimization. Don’t pick Burn if you’re not sure.

7. Post-graduation CPMM fee tier

The graduated pool uses LaunchLab’s default CPMM config (0.25%). If you wanted 1% or 0.01%, you need to create a second CPMM pool yourself post-graduation and migrate liquidity — clumsy, and fragmenting. Accept the default, or launch via direct CPMM creation instead of LaunchLab.

Pointers

products/launchlab/overview — LaunchLab concept and lifecycle.
products/launchlab/bonding-curve — curve math in detail.
products/launchlab/instructions — full instruction reference.
products/launchlab/vesting — vesting schedule mechanics.
algorithms/bonding-curves — general bonding-curve math.
user-flows/creating-a-launchlab-token — UI walkthrough for token creators (JustSendit and LaunchLab modes).
user-flows/how-creator-fees-work — pre- and post-migration creator fee overview.

Sources:

Raydium SDK v2 launchpad module.
Launch status via api-v3.raydium.io endpoints.

LaunchLab

Token launch flow

Tips & Gotchas

Launch a token (LaunchLab)

What you need

Curve choice

Quadratic (`curve_type = 0`)

Virtual-reserves CPMM (`curve_type = 1`)

UI walkthrough

Programmatic walkthrough

Pre-graduation monitoring

Metrics to watch

Graduation

What graduation does

Monitoring for graduation

Manual graduation

Post-graduation

Verify the CPMM pool

Verify LP disposal

Collect creator fees

Announcement checklist

Pitfalls

1. Mint authority not revoked

2. Wrong curve parameters

3. Graduation threshold too high

4. Quote mint scams

5. Forgot to fund base vault

6. LP disposal = Burn is irreversible

7. Post-graduation CPMM fee tier

Pointers

LaunchLab

Token launch flow

Tips & Gotchas

Documentation Index

​What you need

​Curve choice

​Quadratic (curve_type = 0)

​Virtual-reserves CPMM (curve_type = 1)

​UI walkthrough

​Programmatic walkthrough

​Pre-graduation monitoring

​Metrics to watch

​Graduation

​What graduation does

​Monitoring for graduation

​Manual graduation

​Post-graduation

​Verify the CPMM pool

​Verify LP disposal

​Collect creator fees

​Announcement checklist

​Pitfalls

​1. Mint authority not revoked

​2. Wrong curve parameters

​3. Graduation threshold too high

​4. Quote mint scams

​5. Forgot to fund base vault

​6. LP disposal = Burn is irreversible

​7. Post-graduation CPMM fee tier

​Pointers

What you need

Curve choice

Quadratic (`curve_type = 0`)

Virtual-reserves CPMM (`curve_type = 1`)

UI walkthrough

Programmatic walkthrough

Pre-graduation monitoring

Metrics to watch

Graduation

What graduation does

Monitoring for graduation

Manual graduation

Post-graduation

Verify the CPMM pool

Verify LP disposal

Collect creator fees

Announcement checklist

Pitfalls

1. Mint authority not revoked

2. Wrong curve parameters

3. Graduation threshold too high

4. Quote mint scams

5. Forgot to fund base vault

6. LP disposal = Burn is irreversible

7. Post-graduation CPMM fee tier

Pointers