Understand the launch.
Read the curve.
Start with the idea, try a trade, then inspect a real token. You can learn the essentials here without a wallet or prior knowledge of liquidity pools.
What is DBC?
DBC means Dynamic Bonding Curve. It is Meteora's configurable token launch mechanism. A curve defines the token's price during launch, and trades move along that curve. A configurable curve does not promise that the market price will keep rising. Dynamic trading fees are a separate, optional setting.
- 1. ConfigureChoose the curve, quote token, fees and graduation settings.
- 2. Trade on DBCBuys move up the active curve. Sells move back down.
- 3. Reach thresholdThe required quote reserve is reached. Normal DBC swaps stop.
- 4. Migrate to DAMMBase and quote tokens seed an AMM pool. Migration is a separate step.
- Base and quote tokens
- The base token is being launched, such as KLED. The quote token pays for it, such as SOL. A curve price states how much quote buys one base token.
- Virtual liquidity
- This curve parameter controls price movement inside a range. More liquidity means a smaller price change for the same quote input. It is not the token balance held in a vault.
- Price ranges
- A curve can use one range or several ranges with different liquidity. Changing those settings changes how quickly the price moves at different stages.
- Marginal and average price
- A point on the graph shows the marginal price at that position. A buy crosses part of the curve, so its average execution price differs. Fees and slippage also affect a trade.
How the curve changes shape
Concept illustration · normalized unitsThese three illustrations share a starting price of 1, an ending price of 9 and 100 funding units. They compare liquidity placement. They are not KLED or DUPE pool data.
One liquidity setting spans the whole curve. The price rises along a smooth, curved path as funding increases.
Move right to explore buying through the curve, and left to explore selling back. This slider only inspects geometry. After graduation, trading uses the DAMM pool and its market price can move independently. New launches migrate to DAMM v2; legacy launches can use DAMM v1.
Learn more in Meteora's DBC overview, curve guide and formulas.
One buy, then a sell
Buying adds quote tokens to the curve and removes base tokens. Selling returns base tokens and removes quote tokens. Follow both movements with the fictional MEME token below.
Educational model · 1% fixed fee in SOL · no wallet or live transaction
Visible net reserve: 0–72.587433 SOL. Full curve view. Display only; trade amounts and guards are unchanged.
Current price 1.90399 SOL / 1M MEME at 30.2734 SOL net reserve. Graduation at 68.8033 SOL. After this buy, marginal price 1.96518 SOL / 1M MEME; net reserve 31.2634.
Inspect: 30.273432 SOL reserve → 1.90399 SOL / 1M MEME. Tap the chart or use arrows/Home/End; Shift+arrows pan; +/− zoom.
Visible price ranges · approximate table
| Range | Net reserve from | Net reserve to | Marginal price from | Marginal price to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 13.180195 | 0.5 | 1 |
| 2 | 13.180195 | 39.331442 | 1 | 2.5 |
| 3 | 39.331442 | 68.803254 | 2.5 | 5 |
Zoom, pan and price rescaling change display only. Educational geometry; this chart is not an executable quote or a price forecast. Standalone SVG exports retain the full report view, not this local window.
The filled dot is the starting price. The hollow diamond is the price after your buy. You cross several prices, so your average paid price includes the movement and the fee.
Each adjustment starts a fresh hypothetical buy/sell pair. This uses rounded educational math, excludes network fees, and does not predict a real token's return. The separate workbench supports exact input, partial fill, exact output and longer scenarios.
Open this model in the workbench →A price map, not a price history
Horizontal: quote funding
Moving right means more quote tokens have funded the curve. Moving left means quote tokens have left through sells. This axis does not measure time or the number of buyers.
Vertical: marginal price
The price at a point tells you the rate for a very small next trade, before fees. DBC Lens displays the pool's quote token per one million base tokens so small prices are easier to read.
Example: 2 SOL / 1M TOKEN means 0.000002 SOL per TOKEN. It does not mean that a large order can buy one million tokens for exactly 2 SOL.
Read the pair first: a USDC pool measures funding and price in USDC, while a SOL pool uses SOL. These curve coordinates do not automatically convert to dollars. A dollar valuation needs a separate quote-token exchange rate and a stated supply.
- Average execution price
- Total quote spent divided by base received for a buy. A larger order passes through more of the curve. DBC Lens's average price includes trading fees.
- Price impact
- The price movement caused by your own order. More virtual liquidity in the active range reduces this movement for the same quote amount.
- Range boundary
- A point where the curve switches to another liquidity setting. A single trade can cross several ranges.
- Graduation progress
- Quote reserve divided by the configured quote threshold. For example, 30 SOL toward a 100 SOL threshold is 30% funding progress. It is not 30% of the total token supply sold.
See the math inside one range
Let L be virtual liquidity, P the price, and P₀ the range's starting price. Quote funding q inside that range follows:
q = L × (√P − √P₀)
P = (√P₀ + q / L)²
Base tokens sold across that movement equal L × (1 / √P₀ − 1 / √P). A multi-range curve adds the amounts from the earlier ranges. Chart values are rounded; live trade quotes use the pool's actual units and integer calculations.
Source: Meteora DBC formulas.
Movement, fees and slippage are different
| Term | What it means for your trade |
|---|---|
| Price impact | Your order itself moves the curve. Increasing slippage tolerance does not remove that movement. |
| Trading fee | A charge on the swap. The base fee can be fixed or scheduled. Optional dynamic fees respond to volatility; “dynamic” in DBC does not mean every pool enables them. |
| Slippage tolerance | Your limit on a worse result between preview and execution. For exact input, it sets a minimum output. For exact output, it sets a maximum input. It is a limit, not an extra fee or a guarantee that the trade will execute. |
| Network fee | The Solana transaction cost, separate from the pool's trading fee. Educational previews here exclude it. |
When fees are collected in the quote token, a buy deducts them from quote input and a sell from quote output. In output-token mode, buys deduct base-token fees from what you receive; sells still deduct quote-token fees.
Fees can be shared among protocol, launch partner and creator, with a referral share where applicable. Those shares divide the trading fee; they are not separate charges to add again.
The same curve position can have a different fee later
A fee schedule starts at pool activation and advances in configured slots or timestamps. A slot is a Solana ledger step, not a fixed number of seconds. Once the configured reductions finish, the final base fee remains. Optional dynamic fees add a separate charge based on recent price movement.
| Schedule | Start | Step 1 | Step 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | 10% | 10% | 10% |
| Linear | 10% | 8% | 6% |
| Exponential | 10% | 8% | 6.4% |
Each step is one configured period. In this example, linear subtracts 2 percentage points per period; exponential reduces the remaining fee by 20% per period.
The buy-and-sell lab uses a fixed 1% fee. A live pool can use another fee and a changing schedule. Its preview needs both pool state and the current activation clock.
Exact input
Choose how much to pay. The preview estimates how much you receive. If the whole input cannot fit before graduation, the order can fail.
Partial fill / exact output
Partial fill permits a supported order to use less than the requested input at a boundary. Exact output asks for a chosen receipt amount and calculates the required input. Neither creates missing liquidity.
Sources: DBC fees, fee schedules and dynamic fees. Order controls describe this site's preview modes.
Graduation changes where trading happens
- DBC tradingBuys and sells move through the launch curve.
- Threshold reachedThe curve is complete. Normal DBC swaps stop.
- MigrationConfigured quote and base tokens establish DAMM liquidity.
- DAMM tradingThe new market sets subsequent prices through swaps.
DAMM is Meteora's Dynamic Automated Market Maker: a pool where traders exchange two tokens against liquidity. New DBC launches migrate to DAMM v2. Older pools can retain an existing DAMM v1 migration path.
Curve completion and a created DAMM pool are different states. Migration can include locker or vesting steps. The configured migration fee and a separate 0.2% protocol liquidity migration fee reduce the assets deposited; the destination pool has its own trading fees.
The curve is complete. Why is the new market not live yet?
Completion makes a pool eligible to migrate. Someone still needs to submit the migration transactions. Meteora's mainnet keepers cover eligible quote tokens and thresholds, not every possible launch. Other pools need their launch platform or a manual migration flow; devnet does not use those mainnet keepers.
A keeper is an off-chain service that submits those transactions. Check the pool's migration state and destination pool, as well as the platform's migration support. See current keeper coverage or open Meteora's manual migrator.
A graduated token's original DBC curve explains its launch. The final curve price is not its current market price. Prices can move up or down after migration.
Quote reserve above the threshold is surplus. Unused base tokens in a fixed-supply launch can be leftover. Their recipients and claim rules come from the launch settings; they are not extra tokens owed to every buyer.
Surplus and leftover have different claim timing
Surplus claims become available after curve completion. Fixed-supply leftover can be withdrawn only after the migrated pool is created, to its configured receiver. Neither amount extends the original curve beyond its threshold.
Source: DBC surplus and leftover.
Source: Meteora migration and liquidity.
The curve is only part of a launch
- Partner, creator and config
- The partner defines a reusable configuration. A creator launches a token from it. The config chooses the quote token, price ranges, fees, supply and graduation rules.
- Supply and valuation
- Token price multiplied by a stated supply gives a valuation. Circulating market cap and fully diluted valuation use different supply figures. A valuation is not the amount of SOL in a pool.
- Dynamic supply versus fixed supply
- Dynamic supply means the launch calculates its initial token amount from curve requirements, a buffer, migration liquidity and vesting. It does not mean ordinary buys mint new tokens. Fixed supply sets pre-migration and post-migration amounts and a receiver for unused tokens.
- Token allocation
- Supply can be assigned to curve trading, migrated liquidity and other configured recipients. Some creator tokens can vest over time. The amount sold on the curve is not necessarily the full supply.
- Liquidity ownership and locks
- Migrated liquidity can be allocated to partner and creator, with locked and unlocked portions. A liquidity lock constrains that portion's withdrawal; it does not fix the token price or lock every token holder's tokens.
- Token permissions
- Launches can use SPL Token or Token 2022 with different authority choices and supported extensions. A DBC label alone does not tell you whether metadata or token permissions are immutable.
Source: Meteora launch configuration.
Which token permissions can affect a trade?
Metadata update authority controls token information. Mint authority can create more tokens. Standard DBC launches revoke mint authority at launch; special Token 2022 transfer-hook launches can retain it under specific authority settings.
A transfer hook runs extra logic when tokens move, such as an allowlist check. These pools need a hook-aware swap path. DBC removes the base token's hook when the curve completes, before DAMM v2 migration.
Some Token 2022 quote assets need a DBC token badge, an operator-created compatibility account. A badge does not waive the zero transfer-fee requirement. If the quote asset later charges a transfer fee, quote transfers can fail even if curve math produces a number. DBC Lens can restrict previews when execution requirements fall outside its supported profile.
Sources: Token 2022 support and transfer-hook pools.
Explore your token in DBC Lens
- Select the correct network in the workbench.
- Choose Token mint and paste the token's mint address. A mint identifies a token; a pool address identifies a particular trading pool.
- Find its DBC pool. If several candidates exist, choose which one to verify and open. A DAMM or another protocol's pool is not a DBC launch pool.
- Read the source, token pair, observed time and phase. The graph appears after the pool and its configuration are read from the selected chain.
- Inspect the launch curve. An active supported DBC pool can also offer buy/sell previews. A completed or migrated pool keeps its launch curve for study, while DBC trading stays unavailable.
| Label on this site | How to read it |
|---|---|
| Concept illustration | Normalized, fictional units for explaining a shape. Its slider inspects geometry. |
| Synthetic / educational model | Fictional token and fixed assumptions. Change inputs to learn how prices and orders relate. |
| Live snapshot | Observed pool accounts with a network, slot and timestamp. Rounded graph geometry is separate from a live quote. |
| Proposed config / hypothetical state | A design or a what-if calculation. It is not an observed launched token or an executed trade. |
Why is a token or quote unavailable?
The mint may have no DBC pool on this network, a data provider may be temporarily unavailable, or the token's extensions may be outside the supported preview profile. A completed curve cannot quote normal DBC trades. No synthetic graph is substituted for a failed live read.
Does a displayed quote prove a swap will execute?
A preview calculates an order from observed accounts. Execution also depends on the pool still being active, the activation point, token permissions, required accounts, your balance and your slippage limit at transaction time. A rounded graph is a view of the launch geometry, not an executable order. DBC Lens does not execute a swap when you inspect a graph or request a preview.
Does an upward curve promise a rising token price?
No. The configured graph maps funding to price during the launch. Buys move one way and sells move back. Demand is not guaranteed, and the post-migration market can price the token differently.