Raydium is a Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) and automated market maker (AMM) that functions as the primary trading venue for established meme coins on Solana. Its integration with pump.fun is particularly significant: when a pump.fun token graduates from its bonding curve, its liquidity is automatically deployed to Raydium, making Raydium the immediate post-launch trading venue for every successful pump.fun launch.
AMM model
Raydium uses a constant-product AMM model (x × y = k) similar to Uniswap v2. Liquidity providers deposit pairs of tokens into pools, and traders can swap between them at algorithmically determined prices. Price impact is determined by pool depth — deeper pools allow larger trades with less slippage.
CLMM pools
Raydium's newer Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker (CLMM) pools allow liquidity providers to concentrate liquidity within specific price ranges, improving capital efficiency at the cost of more active management. Most meme coin pools on Raydium use the older CPMM or CLMM v2 model.
Raydium and meme coin trading
For traders, Raydium represents the "second phase" of a pump.fun token's life. Bonding curve tokens have constrained liquidity and price action; Raydium-listed tokens can attract larger pools, attract more sophisticated traders, and in some cases receive listings on aggregators and centralized exchanges. The graduation event itself often produces a price pop as the token gains visibility to traders who don't watch the bonding curve phase.