Stages
Launch, Shield, Growth and Locked In: the four stages every token moves through.
Four stages
Every token moves through the same four stages, in order. The creator chooses how long the Shield window lasts and when the end date is, and both are sealed at launch. A token never goes back a stage.
- 01LaunchThe launch block
The token, its bonding curve and its pool are created, and the creator can make the first buy.
- 02ShieldUp to 24 hours
Buy and sell fees may go up to 25%, to make sniping expensive.
- 03GrowthUntil the end date
Fees move along their sealed schedules toward their final values.
- 04Locked InForever
Every time-based rule stays at its last value. A Hold Streak sell fee still follows each seller's streak.
Launch
The block the token is created in. The Launcher deploys the token, opens its bonding curve, creates its pool against the paired asset and hands the Fee Hook every token for sale. If the creator makes a first buy, it happens here too, on the curve, paid in the paired asset at the launch-block rates like anyone else.
Shield
Up to 24 hours straight after launch, when sniping is most likely. During Shield a token may charge buy or sell fees up to 25%, and max wallet is usually tight. Bot Tax (up to 50%) isn't tied to Shield. It follows its own schedule and must be back to 0% within 24 hours of launch, or by the end date if that comes sooner, whatever the Shield length.
Growth
From the end of Shield to the end date. Fees are capped at 10%, and each rule follows its schedule toward its final value: a sell fee easing off over a week, say, or max wallet opening up.
Locked In
From the end date on, every time-based rule stays at its last value forever. A sell fee that follows Hold Streak still depends on how long each seller has held, but the schedule itself never changes.
stage() on the token returns 0 for Launch, 1 for Shield, 2 for Growth and 3 for Locked In. shieldEnd() and endTime() give the exact timestamps.Stages and graduation
Stages follow the clock. Graduation follows the money: every token starts on a bonding curve and graduates into its Uniswap pool once the curve has raised its target, whatever stage it's in. That can happen in the launch block, if the creator's first buy is big enough, or weeks later, or never.
Graduating doesn't change the stage or any rule. The same sealed schedules apply on the curve and in the pool, and a token keeps moving through its stages either way.