A Raydium token launch is the five-step on-chain sequence that turns a fresh SPL mint into a tradable, aggregator-routed token: (1) mint SPL (~0.07 SOL), (2) attach Metaplex metadata and revoke mint + freeze authority (~0.02 SOL), (3) seed a Raydium CPMM pool (~0.4 SOL plus 5-25 SOL seed), (4) burn LP at minute zero (~0.01 SOL), and (5) qualify for Jupiter strict-list. Total Solana-network cost lands near 0.5 SOL excluding seed liquidity; mechanical steps run in ~10 minutes, Jupiter adds a 7-day wait. For steps 3-4 in one signed transaction, alchemii's Raydium LP Builder wraps the SDK into a no-code flow.

Before you launch: utility token or memecoin?

Picking the wrong launch shape is the most expensive mistake in the sequence, because two of the steps below behave differently. A utility token (governance, payments, NFT side-asset) usually wants retained authorities and a paid market-maker. A memecoin wants revoked authorities and a burned LP at minute zero. The decision tree:

Utility / project token. You keep mint authority (you'll re-mint into vesting), freeze authority stays on for compliance hooks, LP stays in a multisig, fee tier 0.25%, seed liquidity often 50+ SOL. Raydium CLMM is acceptable if your price band is predictable.
Memecoin / community launch. Revoke both authorities before the pool exists, burn LP at minute zero, fee tier 1%, seed 5-25 SOL. Raydium CPMM only. Skip CLMM entirely.

For the memecoin branch, alchemii's Raydium LP Builder handles steps 3 and 4 in one no-code flow: pool creation plus LP burn in a single signed bundle. The utility-token branch typically wants the manual Raydium UI because you'll want to keep LP and stage in liquidity rather than burn it. If you're not sure which branch you're on yet, the memecoin creation flow presets the right authority + fee-tier defaults.

The rest of this guide assumes the memecoin path. Utility-token launchers should read how to add liquidity to Raydium for the CLMM + retained-LP variant.

Step 1 — Mint the SPL token (~0.07 SOL)

The SPL token is a mint account inside Solana's shared SPL Token Program at address TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA. Creating one writes three on-chain accounts: the mint itself (82 bytes), an associated token account for your wallet, and a Metaplex metadata PDA (we cover that in Step 2). Rent-exempt minimums add up to ~0.0014 SOL; the rest of the 0.07 SOL is the no-code service fee.

What you set at this step:

Name + symbol. UTF-8, displayed in wallets and explorers.
Decimals. 9 is the SPL default. Use 6 if you want USDC parity (USDC at EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v is 6 decimals). Memecoins frequently use 5 (BONK DezXAZ8z7PnrnRJjz3wXBoRgixCa6xjnB7YaB1pPB263, 100T supply) or 6 (WIF EKpQGSJtjMFqKZ9KQanSqYXRcF8fBopzLHYxdM65zcjm, 1B supply).
Supply. Minted at creation to your wallet. Common patterns: 1B for memecoins, 100M-10B for utility tokens, 100T for BONK-style hyper-supply plays.

One thing I keep seeing first-time launchers get wrong: decimals are immutable. Pick 9. Actually, 6 if you want USDC parity for any aggregator price math. You can't change it later without minting a new token. For the full step-by-step on this piece alone, see how to create a Solana SPL token; the no-code path lives at the Token Creator.

Setting	Memecoin default	Utility token default
Decimals	5 or 6	6 or 9
Supply	1B or 100T	100M-10B
Service fee	~0.05 SOL	~0.05 SOL
Rent	~0.0014 SOL	~0.0014 SOL
Total step cost	~0.07 SOL	~0.07 SOL

Step 2 — Attach metadata, revoke mint + freeze authority (~0.02 SOL)

The metadata PDA is what wallets read to show your token's name, image, and ticker. Without it, Phantom and Solflare display the raw mint address. DOA for a memecoin. Metadata is written via the Metaplex Token Metadata program at metaqbxxUerdq28cj1RbAWkYQm3ybzjb6a8bt518x1s. The metadata account itself is ~679 bytes and costs ~0.012 SOL of rent.

You'll upload:

Image (PNG or JPEG, ≤200KB recommended, hosted on Arweave or IPFS via Pinata)
External URL (your project site, optional)
Description (≤500 chars, optional but Jupiter strict-list checks this)

After metadata is written, revoke mint authority and revoke freeze authority in the same transaction batch. This is non-negotiable for any memecoin launch. Solscan displays "Mint Authority: null" and "Freeze Authority: null" as the green-flag pair that traders check before buying. If either field still shows a wallet address, sophisticated buyers walk. Full mechanics in how to revoke mint authority on Solana.

The revoke transactions are cheap (~0.000005 SOL each in gas) and immediate. Once revoked, neither you nor anyone else can mint more tokens or freeze a trader's balance, which is exactly the trust signal you're trying to create.

flowchart TD
  A[Mint account created] --> B[Metadata PDA written via Metaplex]
  B --> C{Authority decisions}
  C -->|Memecoin path| D[Revoke mint authority]
  D --> E[Revoke freeze authority]
  E --> F[Solscan shows null/null]
  C -->|Utility path| G[Keep both, document in docs]

One scar from 2024: pre-Metaplex-v2 immutable metadata meant you couldn't edit the image after launch even if you wanted to. Current v2 lets you mark metadata mutable or immutable at write time. Memecoins: set it immutable. Utility tokens with evolving branding: keep it mutable.

Step 3 — Seed the Raydium CPMM pool (~0.4 SOL + your liquidity)

flowchart LR
  A[Token minted + authorities revoked] --> B{Pool type}
  B -->|Memecoin| C[Raydium CPMM, 1% fee]
  B -->|Stable pair| D[Raydium CLMM, 0.05% fee]
  C --> E[Set initial price + seed]
  D --> E
  E --> F[Pool live, LP token in wallet]

This is the step the whole guide is built around. The Raydium AMM v4 program at 675kPX9MHTjS2zt1qfr1NYHuzeLXfQM9H24wFSUt1Mp8 accepts a one-shot pool-creation transaction that writes the pool's program-derived addresses, sets the initial price, and deposits your seed amounts. Pool creation costs ~0.4 SOL. Most of that is rent for the pool accounts; the rest is the protocol fee. This 0.4 SOL is non-refundable. Get the config right the first time.

Step 1 → Mint SPL token         (~0.07 SOL)
Step 2 → Metadata + revoke      (~0.02 SOL)
Step 3 → Raydium CPMM pool      (~0.4 SOL + seed liquidity 5-25 SOL)
         ├─ utility / large mcap → CLMM acceptable (rare)
         └─ memecoin / new launch → CPMM only
Step 4 → Burn LP token          (~0.01 SOL)
Step 5 → Jupiter strict-list    (~0 SOL, 7-day age + auth revoked)
─────────────────────────────────────────────
Total Solana-network cost: ~0.5 SOL excl. seed liquidity

What you set when creating the pool:

Base token. Your mint address from Step 1.
Quote token. SOL (typical for memecoins) or USDC (more common for utility tokens).
Initial price. Derived from your seed amounts. 1B tokens + 10 SOL = 0.00000001 SOL/token = ~$3K implied market cap at SOL=$300.
Fee tier. 1% for memecoins (Pump.fun graduates use the same tier, which keeps trader expectations consistent), 0.25% for stable-pair utility tokens.

Seed liquidity sizing matters more than launchers expect. People assume 5 SOL is plenty of seed because every 2023 guide says so — it's not, not anymore. Sniper bot infrastructure has gotten cheaper and faster since 2024 and 5 SOL pools regularly get drained in the first block now. The real minimum for any launch with even minor public attention has shifted to 10-15 SOL. With under 5 SOL of seed, a single 1 SOL buy creates 16-20% price impact and snipers can collapse the chart in the first few blocks. Standard memecoin seed is 5-25 SOL; serious launches with active sniper resilience seed 25-50 SOL. The math:

Seed (SOL)	Implied mcap (1B supply)	Price impact on 1 SOL buy	Sniper resilience
2	~$600	~40%	None
5	~$1,500	~17%	Minimum viable
10	~$3,000	~9%	Standard
25	~$7,500	~4%	Strong
50	~$15,000	~2%	Very strong

For the no-code path on this step, the Raydium LP Builder wraps the AMM v4 SDK into one signed transaction. Manual route: Raydium's pool creation UI. Deep-dive on the LP mechanics: how to add liquidity to Raydium. If you're still deciding between Raydium and Orca for your launch DEX, see Raydium vs Orca for new tokens. Raydium wins on memecoin discoverability, Orca on CLMM UX.

Step 4 — Burn the LP token at minute zero (~0.01 SOL)

Once the pool exists, you hold an LP token in your wallet that represents 100% of the pool. Burning it (sending it to the incinerator address 1nc1nerator11111111111111111111111111111111) permanently locks the underlying liquidity. The LP token is irretrievable; the SOL and your token inside the pool can never be pulled. That's the trust signal traders look for on DexScreener: "🔥 LP burned" is the second green flag after revoked authorities.

The transaction itself is cheap (~0.01 SOL including gas + ATA close). You can burn via alchemii's Burn Liquidity tool in one click, or send a manual transfer:

spl-token transfer <LP_MINT> <ALL_AMOUNT> 1nc1nerator11111111111111111111111111111111

Test before you burn. Always do a 0.05 SOL buy and 0.05 SOL sell first to confirm the pool routes correctly. We've seen launches where the initial price was 10× off and the launcher burned LP anyway. That capital is gone, and the only recovery is launching a fresh token. There is no undo on a burn.

A specific scar from a paid client in late 2024: they seeded a 1B-supply pool at 10 SOL but accidentally entered 100 SOL as the quote-token amount instead of 10. Initial price came out 10× too high, ~$0.30 per token at $3 implied mcap. They burned LP at minute zero before testing. Within 90 minutes a single 0.5 SOL buy moved the price 47% upward against a thin order book, and the pool became effectively un-tradeable because no buyer would touch a chart that spiky. The 0.41 SOL pool fee plus 10 SOL seed plus brand momentum — all gone. Now I tell every client: 0.05 SOL buy + 0.05 SOL sell + chart check on DexScreener, in that order, before the LP burn signature.

People also assume burning LP makes the pool immediately rug-proof. It doesn't — for the first 24-48 hours your token is still vulnerable to wash-trading attacks where a wallet runs price up against thin depth and dumps into the inflated bid. The burn locks the underlying liquidity from withdrawal; it doesn't lock the price action. The defense isn't the burn alone, it's the burn plus enough seed depth (≥10 SOL these days) that wash trading is too capital-intensive to be profitable.

Per our memecoin launch checklist, LP burn correlates with ~5.7× higher 24-hour survival in our 50K-launch dataset. The full mechanics, edge cases, and the "burned-but-still-showing-liquidity" Phantom display bug live in how to burn LP tokens on Solana.

Step 5 — Get listed on Jupiter + DexScreener (~0 SOL, hours of waiting)

flowchart TD
  A[Pool created on Raydium] --> B[DexScreener auto-index in 5-15 min]
  A --> C[Phantom indexing window starts]
  B --> D{Jupiter strict-list criteria met?}
  D -->|>$1K TVL + 7d age + auth null + LP burned| E[Strict-list inclusion in 7-10 days]
  D -->|Missing criteria| F[Token shows with low-confidence warning]
  C --> G[Token surfaces in non-holder Phantom search by day 30]

This step costs no SOL but takes the longest wall-clock time. Two listings matter:

DexScreener auto-indexes Raydium pools within 5-15 minutes of creation. No application needed. Your token appears at dexscreener.com/solana/<pool-address> with chart, holder count, and LP-burn badge. If it doesn't show after 30 minutes, the pool's initial liquidity might be too low for their indexing threshold (they soft-filter pools with under $500 of TVL). Add liquidity to cross the bar.

Jupiter strict-list is the hard one. Jupiter's aggregator routes ~80% of Solana memecoin trades, and routing-quality depends on strict-list inclusion. The common assumption is that strict-list is the only thing that matters for routing. It's the most-discussed thing, but DexScreener auto-index actually drives more day-one trades because Jupiter's aggregator also pulls from non-strict-list pools with a "low confidence" flag — buyers still trade, they just see a yellow badge. The DexScreener listing matters as much because it's where 60-70% of memecoin discovery happens in the first 48 hours.

Their public criteria (see station.jup.ag):

$1K liquidity (you'll have this if you seeded ≥5 SOL)
7-day age (this is the long wait)
Mint authority revoked
Freeze authority revoked
LP token burned or locked

Strict-list inclusion typically happens 7-10 days post-launch if all criteria are met. Until then your token shows up in Jupiter searches but with a "low confidence" warning that scares off retail. Jupiter strict-list explained walks through the inclusion request flow if you need to escalate after day 10.

Honest hedge: 87% of Solana memecoins die within 24 hours regardless of how clean the LP, authority, and listing setup is. Clean mechanics are necessary but not sufficient. Distribution, community, narrative, and timing matter more than the on-chain config. The post-mortem lives in why most Solana memecoins die in 24 hours.

Phantom indexing is a separate gotcha: even after DexScreener and Jupiter pick up your pool, Phantom's wallet display takes up to 30 days to surface your token in non-holder wallets' search. During that window your token is "visible but untradeable". Holders see it, prospective buyers searching by ticker may not. Workaround: share the mint address directly in your launch post.

Known gaps

This guide covers the mechanical Raydium launch sequence. It deliberately does not cover:

T-7 to T-0 social prep. Telegram, X, narrative seeding, and influencer coordination are covered in launch Solana memecoin checklist.
Post-launch operations. T+24h watching, holder analytics, organic trade defense are out of scope here. Same checklist link.
Bonding-curve launches. Pump.fun, Moonshot, and four.meme use a curve-then-graduate model that bypasses manual Raydium pool creation. See Pump.fun vs Raydium.
Orca and Meteora. This guide is Raydium-specific. Orca CLMM is the cleaner UX for utility tokens; Meteora's dynamic-LP model is interesting for active LPers. We compare in Raydium vs Orca for new tokens.
Cost optimization below 0.5 SOL. You can shave maybe 0.03 SOL by going manual through Raydium UI + Solana CLI, but the time cost rarely justifies it. Full breakdown in cost to create a Solana token.
Tax treatment. Jurisdiction-specific and not tax advice.
Non-Solana launches. Uniswap (Ethereum), PancakeSwap (BSC), Aerodrome (Base) use entirely different tooling and economics.

Raydium Token Launch: The 5-Step Playbook (2026)

Before you launch: utility token or memecoin?

Step 1 — Mint the SPL token (~0.07 SOL)

Step 2 — Attach metadata, revoke mint + freeze authority (~0.02 SOL)

Step 3 — Seed the Raydium CPMM pool (~0.4 SOL + your liquidity)

Step 4 — Burn the LP token at minute zero (~0.01 SOL)

Step 5 — Get listed on Jupiter + DexScreener (~0 SOL, hours of waiting)

Known gaps

Further reading

Related guides

Solana LP Burn Proof: What to Share After You Burn

Solana Token Creator No-Code: When It Wins vs CLI

Burn Coin: When Burning Builds Trust (and When It's Theater)