Using GowaFun
Bonding curve and graduation
Every token starts on a bonding curve that sets the price from supply and demand. When the curve fills, the token graduates to a GowaFun pool.
How the curve prices a token
The curve works like an automated market maker with virtual reserves: it behaves as if it holds a starting amount of ETH and tokens, and keeps the product of the two constant. Each buy adds ETH and removes tokens, so the next token costs more. Each sell does the opposite.
There is no order book and no counterparty to wait for. You always trade with the curve, and you can always sell back into it before graduation.
Graduation
Each curve has a graduation target measured in real ETH deposited. When a trade brings the curve to that target, the token graduates:
- The curve closes.
- The ETH in the curve and the remaining tokens seed a new GowaFun AMM pool (a Uniswap V2 style pair).
- The pool’s LP tokens are burned, so the liquidity is locked forever. Nobody, including GowaFun or the creator, can pull it.
- Trading continues in the pool. The buy and sell buttons work the same as before.
The app shows each token’s progress toward graduation. The contract owner can change the target for new tokens only; tokens that already exist keep theirs.
On GIWA Sepolia, where test ETH is scarce, every new token uses these settings:
- Graduation target
- 0.02 in the curve
- ETH to fill a curve, fee included
- About 0.0202
- Tokens sold on the curve
- 812,500,000 (81.25%)
- Seeded into the pool
- 0.02 + 187,500,000 tokens
The trade that fills a curve is capped at exactly the target. Any ETH left over is refunded in the same transaction. The curve’s last price equals the pool’s opening price, so there is no jump at graduation.
GIWA has no other DEX yet, so GowaFun runs its own pools. Graduated tokens are standard ERC-20 tokens, and anyone can build on the pools.
Price impact and slippage
A large trade moves the price along the curve, so you get a worse average price than the one shown before the trade. That difference is price impact. Between your click and the block, other trades can also move the price. That is slippage.
Every buy and sell carries a minimum amount you are willing to receive. If the price moves past it, the transaction fails instead of filling at a worse price. You pay gas for a failed transaction, but your ETH or tokens stay with you.
Early on a curve, prices move fast in both directions. A token can lose most of its value in minutes.