> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://stonkmarket.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://stonkmarket.gitbook.io/docs/concepts/graduation.md).

# How Trading Works

Every stonk token trades in its own **Uniswap v4 pool** — live from the first bell, priced along a constant-product curve, with liquidity that can never be pulled. There is no separate bonding-curve phase and no "graduation": the pool *is* the market from launch.

## The pool is live from launch

At launch the factory seeds a single **Uniswap v4 concentrated-liquidity position** whose shape reproduces a constant-product curve (`x · y = k`) exactly — steep and cheap at the bottom, flattening as it climbs. From the moment trading opens, every buy and sell is an ordinary Uniswap v4 swap against that pool.

The price a trader sees on day one is the real market price in the real pool, and it stays in that same pool forever. There is no internal ledger, no threshold to cross, and no migration transaction.

## Pricing

Every new token launches at the same starting price for its backing asset — roughly **0.00000000286 ETH** per token (ETH-backed) or **0.0000047 USDC** per token (USDC-backed). Every buy pushes the price up; every sell pushes it back down. A fixed mathematical curve quotes a price for any size at any time — no order book, no market makers. The earlier you buy, the more tokens your asset buys; later buyers pay more.

| Parameter                                | WETH-backed                    | USDC-backed     |
| ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ | --------------- |
| Virtual token reserves                   | 700,000,000 (70% of 1B supply) | 700,000,000     |
| Virtual asset reserves                   | 2 ETH                          | \~3,285.71 USDC |
| Discovery depth (asset the band absorbs) | 7 WETH                         | 11,500 USDC     |
| Tick spacing                             | 60                             | 60              |
| Market-band ceiling                      | 1000x                          | 1000x           |

```
// Buy: the 1% fee comes off the asset leg, the remainder moves along the curve
amountIn  = amountPaid - fee
tokensOut = (amountIn × virtualTokenReserves) / (virtualAssetReserves + amountIn)

// Spot price
price = virtualAssetReserves / virtualTokenReserves
```

The reserves are *virtual* — they shape the price math and keep the first buyer from moving the price 100%. The concentrated-liquidity band the factory installs maps this exact curve onto the live pool, so the on-chain price matches the formula.

## Liquidity is permanent

The pool's liquidity can never be removed — by anyone, including the team.

* Only the **factory** can add liquidity, and only **once**, at launch.
* Every removal attempt reverts in the [StonkHook](/docs/smart-contracts/stonk-hook.md) with `ProtocolLiquidityIsPermanent`.

Uniswap v4 has no LP tokens to burn, so this is stronger than the old "burned LP" promise — permanence is enforced directly in the hook's code, not approximated by sending LP tokens to a dead address. There is no path — deployer, protocol, or anyone else — to pull the liquidity.

## Market hours and fees

* **Market hours.** Trades only land during NYSE hours; the hook's `beforeSwap` reverts when the market is closed, and the token's transfer function enforces the same window as a second layer. See [Market Hours](/docs/concepts/market-hours.md).
* **Launch lock.** A freshly launched token isn't tradeable until the next NYSE open (`launchTime`) — nothing trades between deploy and the first bell.
* **Fees.** A 1% fee is withheld from the backing-asset leg of every swap by the hook (never from the token) and accrues in the [StonkFeeLocker](/docs/smart-contracts/stonk-fee-locker.md). See [Protocol Configuration](/docs/reference/protocol-configuration.md).

## No graduation (unlike v1)

The earlier version of this launchpad (v1) used an internal bonding curve that later *graduated* — the curve shut off and liquidity migrated into a separate DEX pool. **v2 removes that step entirely.** Killing graduation removes the single most dangerous moment in the old lifecycle — the migration between contracts. In v2 there is no such moment: the token is a real, permanently-liquid Uniswap v4 market from launch.


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