How perps works
The same rules for every coin. Numbers here are the ones the engine uses.
Before you are filled, the other side locks collateral equal to your size. A winning trade is always paid in full.
A long closes itself when the price doubles, a short when the price reaches zero. That is the most the backing can pay.
When your equity falls to 5% of size, the position closes. 1% of size goes to the other side as a penalty and you keep the rest.
You buy at the higher of the live price and its 5-minute average, and sell at the lower. A one-block pump can't be cashed out.
Open positions on each side are capped at 10% of the real SOL in the coin's curve or PumpSwap pool.
Paid from your margin to whoever backs your position, pool or LP.
Funds always leave to the wallet you signed in with. Withdrawals pause by themselves if balances don't add up on chain.
At 10× a 5% move against you closes the position. Never trade with SOL you need.
Fees
0.1% of position size when you open and again when you close. Half goes to the coin's pool, half to the platform.
0.01% of size per hour, taken from your margin and paid to whoever backs your position.
1% of size, paid to the other side. Whatever equity is left after that is returned to you.
pump.fun pays every coin's creator fee to a perps wallet made for that coin. Every minute it is split: 50% to the coin's pool, 30% to the dev who launched it, 10% to LP orders, 10% to the platform.
Free. Network fees are paid by the platform. Minimum 0.01 SOL each way.
Providing liquidity
An LP order says: “I back traders on this coin, up to this much SOL, if the price is on my side of this level.” Backing longs means you hold the short side of their trade, so it fills at your price or higher. Backing shorts is the reverse.
When a trader opens, LP orders that can fill go first, best price first, then the pool takes the rest. Each SOL of collateral backs one SOL of size. When the trade closes, your collateral comes back with the trader's loss added or their profit taken out. Collateral that is not backing a trade can be withdrawn at any moment. Every minute, the coin's 10% LP share of creator fees is split across orders by their backing size, counting only orders that could fill at the current price plus collateral already backing trades.
How funds are held
perps is custodial. Your deposit address and every coin's creator wallet belong to the platform's keys, and balances, positions and orders are kept by the perps engine. Withdrawals are signed by the platform and only ever go to the wallet you signed in with. Every minute the engine checks that the SOL it holds on chain covers every balance; if it ever doesn't, withdrawals stop by themselves until the gap is explained.
Risks
Memecoins move fast. At 10× leverage a 5% move against you liquidates the position. Profit on a single position is capped at 100% of its size. LP orders can lose their whole collateral when traders win. pump.fun's admins can in principle reassign a coin's creator, which would stop that coin's creator fees. Because funds are custodial, you rely on perps keeping its keys safe. Only use SOL you can afford to lose.