PUMP token climbs 30% – Decoding the $19.2M buyback effect

Key Takeaways

• Pump.Fun’s buyback program has already deployed $19.2 million for PUMP buys. The deflationary plan boosted the token’s bullish outlook and rallied it by nearly 30%. Will the uptrend extend? 

Pump.Fun [PUMP] has begun an aggressive buyback, signaling a bullish cue for its native token PUMP. 

Blockchain analytics platform Spot On Chain reported that the Solana [SOL]-based memecoin launchpad bought back 3.196 billion PUMP tokens (worth $19.2 million).

Source: SpotOnChain

Pump.Fun post-ICO sentiment shift

The platform recently set aside $30.53 million (187,7770 SOL) for its buyback program. 

In the past, the accrued fees were offloaded via Kraken. It cashed out over 4.1 million SOL (over $740M) since May 2024.

In fact, this cash-out was widely labeled as ‘extractive’ by Crypto Twitter (CT).

And the same sentiment was predominant before the bumper ICO (Initial Coin Offering) on July 12. But ICO was a success, raising $600 million in under 15 minutes. 

Fast forward, the overall market mood post-ICO appeared to be somewhat bullish. And the buyback program was just one of the catalysts. 

On the Hyperliquid DEX, which dominated PUMP’s spot and derivatives market in terms of volume, the token registered only a 13% dump before rallying nearly 30% afterwards. 

Source: PUMP/USDC, TradingView 

As expected, some ICO buyers offloaded when the spot PUMP trading went live; hence, the drop wasn’t surprising. 

Still, the dump eased at $0.005, about a 30% premium to the ICO price of $0.004, so initial buyers were still profitable. 

With the buyback program, PUMP quickly recovered 30% and tagged $0.0068, as of press time.

In other words, the pre-ICO bearish sentiment across CT was overblown, and by placing a contrarian bet against it, one would have printed gains from PUMP.  

For Stacy Muur, a crypto market analyst, the CT’s ‘hatred’ of PUMP may be linked to the platform’s remarkable success. 

Retail pile on PUMP

Meanwhile, the token has attracted renewed retail interest. In the past two days, the number of holders surged 3x from 10K to 33K active addresses.

Those with 10K PUMP and below were the highest, suggesting strong retail interest. 

Source: Blockworks

If the trend continues, including the buyback program, PUMP could rip higher because the pre-ICO bearish drag has waned significantly.