New on-chain data has revealed a stark gap between participation and profits on Pump.fun, where the majority of wallets trading newly launched tokens earned little or lost money over the past month.
Figures compiled on Dune Analytics by researcher @oladee show that about 45.6% of tracked wallets recorded profits of up to $500. Another 50.6% posted losses. When combined, roughly 96% of wallets either lost funds or earned less than $500.
The dataset circulated widely after a misinterpretation from market commentator Ted Pillows, who initially claimed that nearly all traders had posted losses. The underlying data tells a more nuanced story. Small profits exist, but meaningful gains remain rare.
96% of the users lost money trading PumpFun tokens this month.
— Ted (@TedPillows) March 24, 2026
The remaining 4% must be insiders and team members. pic.twitter.com/EcV4G502ae
Only a handful of participants reached significant returns. Two wallets generated more than $1 million in realized profit during the same period. At the opposite end, two wallets recorded losses between $500,000 and $1 million.
Wallet data highlights uneven outcomes
The distribution of outcomes reflects a steep imbalance. The largest group of wallets reported losses below $500, with more than 670,000 addresses in that category. Another 9,000-plus wallets lost between $1,000 and $10,000.
On the profitable side, more than 626,000 wallets recorded gains between $0 and $500. Those figures indicate activity but not meaningful upside.
The data tracks wallets rather than individuals. A single trader can control multiple wallets. That structure introduces uncertainty when assessing how many unique users actually profited or lost.
Unrealized gains also do not appear in the dataset. Traders who still hold tokens with potential upside remain outside the realized profit and loss calculations.
Token creators capture significant revenue
While traders struggle to secure consistent gains, token deployers continue to extract substantial value from the platform.
According to analyst Dethective, the top 250 wallets that launched tokens on Pump.fun generated approximately $79 million from trading activity. These wallets collectively deployed around 194,000 tokens over six months.
The top 250 pumpfun deployers:
— dethective (@dethective) March 22, 2026
> extracted ~$79 MILLIONS from the trenches
> deployed 194K tokens (1,100 per day) in the last 6 months
> produced only ~10 tokens with a 5M+ MC
Full list 👇 pic.twitter.com/p1bw2yiYvS
Only about 10 of those tokens surpassed a $5 million market capitalization threshold. The figures point to a model where a large number of token launches produce limited long-term value, yet still generate fees.
Pump.fun itself has accumulated more than $500 million since 2024, based on available platform data. Revenue comes primarily from transaction fees tied to token creation and trading activity.
Structural challenges limit trader success
The broader token ecosystem on the platform presents difficult conditions for participants. Research from Solidus Labs found that about 98.6% of tokens created on Pump.fun fall below $1,000 in liquidity after launch. That level effectively renders most tokens untradeable.
Out of more than 7 million tokens with at least five trades, only around 97,000 retain enough liquidity for active trading.
High token supply adds further pressure. Dune data indicates that tens of thousands of new tokens enter the market daily. Each new launch competes for limited attention and liquidity.
That volume creates a market where timing and early entry play a central role. The structure does not guarantee fair distribution of gains among participants.
Platform introduces changes amid criticism
Pump.fun has acknowledged the imbalance between trader outcomes and platform revenue. In January 2026, founder Alon Cohen returned after a period of silence to introduce a Creator Fee Sharing system. The feature allows token creators to adjust fee structures and distribute revenue more transparently.
Creator fees need change.
— alon (@a1lon9) January 9, 2026
When Dynamic Fees V1 was introduced a few months ago, the goal was to help create more success cases in our ecosystem by giving top project founders and teams a strong incentive to launch their token on pump fun and drive it to success.
Only a week… https://t.co/yiu9DjsCqR pic.twitter.com/TZHTPAKnfw
In March, the platform expanded beyond memecoins. It added support for assets such as wrapped Bitcoin and USD Coin, alongside a trader cashback model that redistributes a portion of fees to active users.
The updates aim to address criticism about incentive design, where deployers benefit regardless of trader outcomes.
Onchain Agents are taking over, and we’re building tools to accelerate the Agentic Economy on Pump fun
— Pump.fun (@Pumpfun) March 13, 2026
The first step: Automated Buybacks for Tokenized Agents - our solution to bridge the gap between agentic success and human opportunity
Live now, here's how it works 👇 pic.twitter.com/t5pWRGegmR
Revenue remains strong despite market slowdown
Despite weaker sentiment across crypto markets, Pump.fun continues to generate significant income. Data from DefiLlama places the platform among the top revenue-generating crypto-native applications, behind stablecoin issuers such as Tether and Circle.
Average daily revenue has exceeded $1 million across recent periods. Most of that income comes from bonding curve fees collected during early-stage token trading.
On-chain analysis suggests that this revenue reflects real transaction activity rather than simple external transfers. However, questions remain about the role of bots and internal wallets in shaping trading volume.
Token performance and transparency concerns persist
The platform’s native token, PUMP, has declined about 80% from its peak of $0.008819 reached in September last year, according to CoinGecko data. The drop has occurred despite ongoing buybacks funded by platform revenue.
On-chain records show that Pump.fun has repurchased a significant portion of supply. A large share of tokens remains held in custodial wallets. Some discrepancies in token allocation data have raised questions about transparency, particularly around portions of supply not clearly tracked.
The platform has not provided detailed public explanations for all token movements. That gap has added to uncertainty among participants.
Market conditions add pressure
External factors have also weighed on sentiment. The broader crypto market has faced a downturn, with several firms delaying major plans.
Exchange Kraken postponed its planned initial public offering, citing market conditions. NFT marketplace OpenSea delayed its SEA token launch for similar reasons.
Pump.fun has yet to deliver an airdrop that it previously described as coming “soon” more than 250 days ago. The lack of updates has fueled frustration among users on X.
A high-activity market with concentrated gains
The latest data highlights a pattern that defines memecoin trading on launchpad platforms. Participation remains high, with hundreds of thousands of wallets active each month. Profits concentrate among a small number of participants, while most users see minimal returns or losses.
The structure rewards early movers and token creators. For many traders, the outcome reflects a market where opportunity exists but remains unevenly distributed.
Tanya Petrusenko
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