Raydium (RAY) is the top-performing token among the top 100 cryptocurrencies today, with its price rising nearly 20% to reach $3.70 – a level not seen since February. The token has recorded a 50% increase over the past week and is up almost 80% over the last month.
The renewed interest in Raydium is caused by a sharp uptick in activity on its recently launched token creation platform, LaunchLab.
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The Decline After Pump.fun Split
Raydium has been playing a key role in supporting Pump.fun, a leading memecoin launchpad on the Solana blockchain, by acting as its automated market maker (AMM). The exposure brought high trading volume and visibility to Raydium. However, when reports surfaced that Pump.fun was developing its own AMM, RAY’s price dropped sharply – down more than 30% in a single day and almost 70% over the following month.
The launch of a competing AMM raised concerns among traders about Raydium’s future role in the token creation space and caused a significant pullback in investor confidence.
LaunchLab Introduced as a Competitive Alternative
In response, Raydium introduced LaunchLab – a token launch platform with more advanced features than Pump.fun. While Pump.fun focused on simplicity and rapid deployment, LaunchLab offered added flexibility. Token creators could customize supply amounts, pricing curve parameters, vesting schedules, and other technical settings. At the same time, LaunchLab included a one-click setup mode for users preferring default configurations.
The goal was to attract a broader range of token creators, from casual memecoin users to more technically-oriented developers.
We covered the LaunchLab features in detail in this article.
Activity Was Low – But Not For Long
Initial usage of LaunchLab was modest. Token creation spiked briefly following its debut but quickly slowed, with less than 500 tokens being created daily. On positive note, during that early period LaunchLab showed a higher “graduation rate” – the percentage of tokens reaching tradeable status – compared to Pump.fun. On April 22, this figure reached 3.87%.
However, the day after Raydium launched a trading rewards program tied to LaunchLab, activity began to rise sharply. Between late April and early May, the number of new tokens launched daily ranged from 2,000 to 4,000. On May 11, LaunchLab hit a record of 7,788 tokens in a single day.
This record was broken the following day, with 14,853 tokens created – the highest daily figure recorded on the platform so far.
Token Creation Up, Graduation Rate Down
As usage has grown, LaunchLab’s graduation rate has declined. This is consistent with higher traffic from casual users and memecoin creators testing the system with lower long-term commitment. Pump.fun currently records over 20,000 daily token launches. While LaunchLab remains behind in volume, its growth has narrowed the gap significantly. On its highest-volume day, LaunchLab reached more than half of Pump.fun’s total token count.
Data on daily active addresses reflects a similar trend, with notable spikes in user engagement during the first half of May.
Trading Rewards Total $2.8 Million So Far
The increase in LaunchLab activity closely followed the announcement of Raydium’s new rewards program. A tweet from the official Raydium account confirmed that the project has distributed approximately $2.8 million – or around 950,000 RAY – in trading rewards tied to LaunchLab tokens.
According to Raydium, roughly $110,000 in notional rewards is currently being distributed each day. Traders are eligible to earn these rewards regardless of which platform or interface they use, including third-party UIs.
In addition to trading incentives, Raydium has also announced plans for a “Community Fund” designed to support LaunchLab token ecosystems by increasing liquidity and providing further incentives.
Protocol Revenue and Timing of the Surge
Raydium reported protocol revenue of $5.8 million for April. The current rewards program began on April 25 – the sharp rise in token creation and user activity began shortly afterward, indicating a strong link between the reward structure and increased participation.
What’s Next?
LaunchLab is still behind pump.fun in overall daily token creation, but the margin is narrowing. The introduction of trading incentives and increased customization options appear to have contributed to the rise in usage. While the platform’s graduation rate has declined with the surge in activity, total user engagement is at its highest point since the launch.
These developments have caused a sharp rebound in the price of Raydium’s token, which has recovered from earlier lows and continues to climb as participation in LaunchLab accelerates.
Read also: Can Four.meme Challenge Pump.fun? Launchpad Comparison
