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DeFi term

Graduation

The moment a launchpad token moves from its bonding curve to a real liquidity pool.

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By the Orca Crypto teamUpdated 2026-09-28How we check this3 min readDefinition
Definition

The moment a launchpad token moves from its bonding curve to a real liquidity pool.

Graduating means the bonding curve has filled. The launchpad closes it, takes the collected funds and deposits them as liquidity in a normal automated market maker pool, and from then on the token trades on that pool like anything else.

It is a genuine milestone in the sense that it means real money went in, and it is not a quality signal. Plenty of tokens graduate and then fall to nothing, because graduation says something about the amount bought and nothing about what was built.

After graduation the launchpad is out of the picture. Price, liquidity and depth are then whatever the pool and the market make them.

In practice

A token completing its curve and migrating to a PumpSwap pool, after which the chart and the liquidity are visible on any DEX viewer.

What people get wrong

That graduation means a token made it. It means enough was bought to fill the curve, which one determined buyer can do. It is a liquidity event, not a verdict, and a large share of graduated tokens are worth nothing within days.

Common questions

What actually happens at graduation?
The liquidity accumulated on the curve gets deposited into a real pool on a DEX and the curve closes. From then on the token trades normally against that pool.
Is a graduated token safer?
Slightly, in that liquidity exists and is often locked. It says nothing about the team, the distribution, or whether anybody will still be buying tomorrow.

Where this comes up on the site

The guides that actually use this word, rather than a list of everything we have written.

Where to go next

More defi terms

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