Bonding Curve

Every token launched on Candle starts life on a bonding curve. Buyers trade against the curve itself rather than a liquidity pool, the price rises as supply sells, and once the curve raises its target the token graduates: liquidity migrates to a real DEX pool and the curve closes.

Curve terms below are stated in each curve’s own quote asset, never in dollars. A dollar figure needs a live SOL or ETH price, and a hardcoded one goes stale the day it is published.

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Launch modes

Every curve is one of two modes:

Mode	Who can buy pre-graduation
Exclusive	Wallets holding a Believer NFT only
Open	Anyone

Exclusive is the mechanism behind Candle’s thesis: the first buyers on a curve are wallets that have already demonstrated long hold behaviour, which gives a project a base of verified holders before it reaches the open market.

Gating is enforced on-chain by the curve program and re-checked server-side on every buy. It is not a UI restriction.

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Curve terms

There are nine production configurations. Solana curves sell approximately 85%–85.37% of total supply by graduation; the current Hood configurations sell approximately 79.7%. They differ in chain, quote asset, gating, and how much they raise.

Solana

Config	Mode	Raise	Starting FDV	Graduation FDV	Supply sold
Gated SOL curve	Exclusive	190 SOL	58.89 SOL	1,900 SOL	~85%
Open SOL curve	Open	80 SOL	~24.8 SOL	~800 SOL	~85%
Gated USDC curve	Exclusive	14,000 USDC	4,339.26 USDC	138,215.41 USDC	~85.37%
Open USDC curve	Open	6,000 USDC	1,859.68 USDC	59,235.18 USDC	~85.37%
Open CNDL curve	Open	24,000,000 CNDL	7,438,736.84 CNDL	236,940,702.37 CNDL	~85.37%

The CNDL quote pair is open-only. Initial developer buys are supported only for SOL-quoted launches; other quote assets launch first and can be bought afterward.

The quote asset is part of the deployed curve configuration, not a display preference. Changing it changes the threshold, decimal handling, and curve constants. Clients must use the configuration for the exact chain, quote asset, and launch tier.

Robinhood Chain (Hood)

Config	Mode	Raise	Starting FDV	Graduation FDV	Supply sold
Gated ETH curve	Exclusive	10 ETH	3.32 ETH	105.76 ETH	~79.7%
Open ETH curve	Open	4 ETH	1.33 ETH	42.30 ETH	~79.7%
Gated USDG curve	Exclusive	34,000 USDG	11,288.79 USDG	359,573.81 USDG	~79.7%
Open USDG curve	Open	5,000 USDG	1,660.12 USDG	52,878.50 USDG	~79.7%

Hood curves are value-calibrated, not decimal-ported from Solana. That is why the native-denominated numbers look far smaller while being worth roughly the same: a straight port would have graduated at 190 ETH, well over ten times the intended bar.

Note

Every figure in these tables is derived from the deployed curve configuration by simulating the curve, and is regression-tested against the contracts so it cannot drift silently. The open SOL curve’s FDV figures are derived from the same scaling that sets its 80 SOL threshold.

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Other curve parameters

Parameter	Value
Total supply	1,000,000,000
On-curve supply	900,000,000
Token decimals	6
Curve transaction fee	1%
Migration fee	0
Allocation to $CNDL stakers	0.5%–10% (set by the launcher)

The staker allocation is chosen by whoever launches the token, within that range. It is what makes staking work like an index across the whole launchpad — see $CNDL.

The displayed raise is the net reserve threshold. Because the 1% curve fee is accounted for separately, gross buyer input required to reach graduation is slightly greater than the displayed raise. At graduation, the configured staker allocation is reserved and the remaining inventory and quote reserve are prepared for migration.

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Graduation

When a curve reaches its raise target, curve trading closes and the graduation process initiates migration. There can be an interval before the DEX pool is available, and migration can require keeper or recovery transactions. Where liquidity goes depends on the chain and, on Hood, the DEX version chosen at launch:

Graduation-crossing buys

The transaction that crosses the threshold behaves differently by chain. Integrators must quote the exact chain behavior.

• Hood: capped with refund. The curve consumes only the quote required to reach the threshold, calculates output from that capped amount, and returns the unused quote as the refund reported by the Bought event.
• Solana: full fill, no refund. The curve executes the entire submitted amount. Quote reserve above the threshold is treated as surplus under the pool configuration rather than refunded.

Solana → Meteora DAMM v2

• Pool trading fee: 0.5%, flat
• Fees are collected in the quote asset (SOL)
• LP is locked at migration

Hood → Uniswap v3 or v4

• The developer selects Uniswap v3 or v4 when launching
• Static pool fee tier: 0.3%
• v3 uses WETH; v4 settles native ETH directly and uses the Candle launch hook
• The developer does not receive control of the migration liquidity
• Accrued LP fees and recovery behavior are handled by the selected migrator

The pre-graduation Hood market is a standalone Candle curve for both choices. Selecting v4 does not create or trade through a hooked Uniswap pool during the curve phase.

See Launch options and the chain-specific lifecycle pages for the current configuration and integration details.

Caution

Reaching graduation is not guaranteed. A curve that never reaches its raise target never migrates, and tokens bought on it remain tradeable only against the curve. Nothing about a bonding curve implies a token will hold value, gain value, or find a market after graduation. Read the Risk Disclosure Statement before trading.