Meteora's Dynamic Bonding Curve (DBC): how it works, and the six shapes

A bonding curve sells a new token at a price set by a formula: every buy lifts the price, every sell lowers it. Meteora's Dynamic Bonding Curve (DBC) is the program that runs these curves on Solana, and most Meteora launchpads launch with it, T-minus included.

How the curve prices a token

A new curve holds the tokens for sale and none of the quote token. Buyers pay in the quote token (SOL by default, or USDC, or another SPL token), and the curve hands out tokens at its current price. The more has been bought, the higher the price. Sellers get the quote token back at the current price.

Two numbers frame a curve: the starting market cap, which is the token's total value at the first trade, and the graduation market cap, where the curve is complete. On T-minus the defaults are 30 and 420 SOL. Against USDC they are 5,000 and 75,000 USDC.

Graduation

When buying lifts the curve to its graduation market cap, the token graduates. The quote token the curve raised and the tokens set aside for the pool become the liquidity of a regular Meteora pool (DAMM v2), and trading carries on there. With T-minus's defaults that happens once about 88.6 SOL has been raised. T-minus's server checks every minute and moves the curve itself, so nobody has to sign anything.

At graduation your fee wallet receives a position holding 90% of the new pool's liquidity, locked for good unless you chose otherwise. T-minus receives one with the other 10%, always locked. More in Locking liquidity on Meteora.

The six shapes

Every shape is a curve Meteora's program supports. They differ in how the price climbs between the start and graduation, not in how graduation works.

Two market caps: the usual curve, from the starting market cap to the graduation one.
Amount raised: you say how much the curve collects before it graduates, and what share of the supply goes into the pool.
Two segments: a steeper start, then a calmer climb.
A middle price: pins the price the curve passes halfway through, which shapes how fast it climbs.
Liquidity weights: sixteen numbers, one for each stretch of the curve. A higher number makes the price move more slowly through that stretch.
Your own prices: up to sixteen prices the curve passes through, lowest first. The first is the starting price, the last the price at graduation.

What else a curve launch sets

The fee on every trade, from 0.25% to 99%.
An anti-sniper fee that starts high and falls to your fee, over the first minute unless you change it. On by default.
Where the fees go: one wallet, or 2 to 5 wallets in fixed shares.
The fee of the pool it graduates to: one of Meteora's standard tiers, or your own from 0.1% to 10%, which can step down as the market cap grows.
Whether the fee wallet's liquidity is locked, and token vesting for the team.
The supply (fixed, or set by the curve), decimals from 6 to 9, and who can change the token's name and image: nobody by default. Meteora's program switches off minting and freezing on every curve.

Questions

When does a Meteora bonding curve graduate?

When buying lifts it to its graduation market cap, or, with the Amount raised shape, once it has collected the amount you set. With T-minus's defaults that is a 420 SOL market cap, reached after about 88.6 SOL has been raised.

Where does a token trade after graduation?

In the Meteora DAMM v2 pool created at graduation from the curve's raised funds and the tokens set aside for it. The curve itself stops trading.

Can I change the curve after launch?

No. A curve's settings can never change once it is launched. T-minus's review marks every setting like that with a lock, and you confirm each one before you sign.

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