Understand curve launches
Follow inventory, real backing, and the transition from a virtual-reserve curve to a CLMM.
A curve launch starts trading against a configured price path before the pool becomes a CLMM. Its virtual reserves shape prices; its real tokens determine what it can actually pay. Virtual balances are not collateral or spendable assets.
Read the launch terms
Identify the base token being launched, the quote token used to buy it, actual inventory, protected bootstrap allocation, and graduation target. The target is measured in net quote principal, excluding fees.
A target denominated in WSOL is an amount of SOL, not a fixed dollar valuation. A changing quote-token price changes any estimated fiat value of that target. No automatic oracle conversion is implied.
Trading before graduation
Buys and sells change the curve's virtual reserves and marginal price. Fees, price boundaries, wallet limits, inventory floors, and hook rules still apply. A displayed virtual quote balance does not establish that the pool can fund a seller's requested payout; it needs real quote backing after liabilities.
Ordinary public LP deposits are disabled in curve mode. The configured LP fee allocation is retained for graduation, while protocol and beneficiary amounts remain separate claims. Buying the launch token does not create an LP position for the buyer.
What reaching the target means
Reaching the target makes graduation eligible under the protocol's checks. It does not by itself complete graduation. A separate on-chain transaction must succeed, including its applicable policy and settlement checks.
Graduation uses real principal and retained LP-share fees to fund a creator-owned full-range CLMM position. The pool address, vaults, mints, hook binding, and existing protocol and beneficiary liabilities remain associated with the market.
The marginal price is preserved at the transition, but liquidity depth changes. Equal price immediately before and after graduation does not guarantee equal price impact for the next trade.
Check the completed transition
Look for the confirmed transaction and resulting CLMM pool mode and position. A progress bar reaching its target or a submitted signature is insufficient evidence. A failed graduation rolls back its changes.
The hook stays bound to the pool, but a policy can behave differently in curve and CLMM modes. Read its rules for both phases. After successful graduation, ordinary CLMM operations become available subject to those rules.
Any recorded graduation remainder is distinct from user funds, protocol claims, and beneficiary fees; the creator has the supported claim path for that remainder. It is not an automatic distribution to token holders.
For configuration and exact accounting, see Virtual reserves and graduation. For trading review, use Swap tokens.