Overview
Every token earns creator fees as it trades. Stacks splits that stream into ten equal shares and sells them in a price-falling auction. If you hold a Stack, you earn one tenth of the creator fees for as long as the token trades.
The creator keeps the choice of how many Stacks to hold from day one. Everyone else buys the rest at a price that starts high and steps down until someone takes it.
What a Stack is
A Stack is a numbered claim on a share of one token’s creator fees. Every launch has exactly ten, numbered 01 to 10, and each is worth 10% of the same stream.
Example: a creator who pre-bought three Stacks holds 30% of the fee stream. Seven Stacks go to auction.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Creator | Pre-bought by the token’s creator at the floor price, before the auction opened. |
| Open | Up for auction at the current price. |
| Yours | Held by your wallet. Fees for this Stack are credited to you. |
The auction
Open Stacks are sold at a price that falls on a fixed schedule. Every 15 seconds the price drops by one step, until it reaches the floor. It stays at the floor until the Stack is taken.
For example, in Degen mode after 45 seconds the price is 1.5 − 0.125 × 3 = 1.125 SOL.
| Mode | Start | Floor | Drop / 15s | Time to floor | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Degen | 1.5 SOL | 0.5 SOL | 0.125 SOL | 2 min | Cheap Stacks, fast price discovery |
| Builder | 4 SOL | 1 SOL | 0.2 SOL | 3 min 45 s | Premium Stacks for launches with real backing |
The creator picks the mode when launching. You can watch both schedules play out on the chart on the home page.
Taking a Stack
Taking a Stack is one transaction that you sign in your wallet. It either completes in full or does not happen at all.
Choose an open Stack
Pick a Stack that is open and check the price shown. The price keeps falling while you decide.
Sign once
Your wallet shows the Stack number and the most you are willing to pay. That limit is the price you saw when you clicked.
The price is calculated at the moment of purchase
The program works out the price from the auction’s start, floor, drop and elapsed time. It does not rely on what your screen displayed. If the result is above your limit, the transaction fails and you pay nothing.
You pay and the Stack is assigned to you
The price is taken from your wallet in SOL and the Stack is recorded against your address. If someone else took the same Stack a moment earlier, your transaction fails and your SOL stays put.
You start earning
From the next fees the token earns, one tenth is credited to you for this Stack.
Earning fees
Taking a Stack does not pay you anything by itself. You earn from trading activity that happens afterwards.
Every launch has ten vaults, one per Stack, that only the Stacks program can pay out from. The auction does not open until the program has checked on-chain that the token’s creator fees are wired to those vaults and can’t be changed.
On Pump, the coin’s fee sharing is set to the ten vaults at 10% each. Pump locks that list permanently, so not even the creator can change it. On Meteora, the pool’s creator role is handed to the Stacks program, which can only send the fees to the ten vaults.
To get paid, press Collect fees: it pays everything the token has earned so far into all ten vaults at once, and anyone can do it. Then Claim sends your vault’s balance to your wallet in SOL. Fees earned by a Stack before anyone buys it stay in its vault and go to whoever takes it.
More trading volume means more fees. A quiet token earns little, and a Stack has no guaranteed return.
Launching a token
Creators set the terms on the launch form and sign once.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Trading venue | Where the token trades: Pump (pump.fun) or Meteora. |
| Token | Name (up to 32 characters), symbol (up to 10) and an image of up to 5 MB. |
| Auction mode | Degen or Builder pricing, as in the table above. |
| Pre-buy Stacks | 0 to 5 Stacks you keep before the public auction. Since the price would be paid to you, you only pay the 2% fee on the floor price. |
| Dev buy | Optional SOL spent on the token itself at launch, shown with an estimate of tokens received. |
The total you sign is 2% × pre-buy Stacks × floor price + dev buy, plus about 0.04 SOL of network rent for the new accounts. For example, three Degen pre-buys and a 0.2 SOL dev buy come to 0.03 + 0.2 + 0.04 ≈ 0.27 SOL.
Terms
Unaudited software. The Stacks program has not had a security audit yet. Use small amounts, and check the network badge on the launch form before you sign.
| Term | Rule |
|---|---|
| Where Stack payments go | To the token’s creator, minus a 2% protocol fee |
| Pre-bought Stacks | Creator pays the 2% fee on the floor price |
| Price after a Stack is taken | Restarts at the start price |
| Cut of the fee stream | None. Stacks keep 100% of the creator fees |
| Transferring a Stack | Supported by the program; earnings move with it |
| Stacks that never sell | Price stays at the floor; fees wait in the vault |
One thing outside Stacks’ control: Pump and Meteora can change their own programs and fee rules, including Pump’s admin tools for fee sharing.
FAQ
Can two people take the same Stack?
No. Only the first transaction to land wins. The other fails in full and the SOL is not spent.
What if the price drops after I click?
You pay the price at the moment the transaction lands, never more than the limit you signed. If it is lower, you pay the lower price.
What is the difference between Degen and Builder?
Degen starts at 1.5 SOL and drops to a 0.5 SOL floor in two minutes. Builder starts at 4 SOL and drops to a 1 SOL floor in three minutes and forty-five seconds.
Is a Stack guaranteed to earn money?
No. Earnings depend on how much the token trades. A Stack can earn less than you paid for it.
Do I have to press Collect fees?
Fees build up on Pump or Meteora until someone collects them. Anyone can press Collect fees, and it pays all ten Stacks at once. Then each holder claims their own share.