A wave of selling pressure has hit the Pump.fun (PUMP) memecoin, as early private-sale investors began unloading massive holdings onto exchanges, dragging the token below its initial coin offering (ICO) price just a week after launch.
Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain flagged two wallets — labeled “PUMP Top Fund 1” and “PUMP Top Fund 2” on Solscan — that together transferred more than $160 million worth of PUMP tokens to centralized exchanges in recent days.
The largest seller, Top Fund 1, originally acquired 25 billion tokens for $100 million in USDC during the private round. The wallet has since deposited 17 billion tokens — valued at nearly $90 million — to exchanges. Despite the offloading, it still holds roughly $29.5 million worth of PUMP.
Meanwhile, Top Fund 2 — which bought 12.5 billion tokens for $50 million — has fully exited, transferring over $71 million in tokens to exchanges, according to Lookonchain data.
The sell pressure arrives just days after Pump.fun’s high-profile ICO on July 13, during which it raised $500 million in just 12 minutes, driven by intense demand and a booming memecoin market. However, the rapid unlocking of tokens appears to have undermined market stability.
Data from CoinGecko shows that the PUMP token dropped to an all-time low of $0.003642 on July 22 — a 46.5% fall from its post-launch high of $0.006812, and 32% below its July 15 launch price. The current price is 7% under the ICO price of $0.004, meaning even presale participants now face paper losses if they haven’t exited.
While the token initially showed strength after launch, analysts say the high float and near-immediate liquidity access created heavy downward pressure, especially as whales moved to take profits.
On-chain data from BitMEX published on July 17 revealed that nearly 60% of presale participants had sold or transferred their tokens. Only 37.4% continued to hold, while a minority — about 3% — increased their stakes.
Pump.fun’s decline comes as the broader memecoin sector shows signs of cooling. Total market capitalization across meme tokens climbed to $87 billion on July 21, up from $55 billion on June 30, according to CoinMarketCap. However, that peak was quickly followed by a $6 billion retreat, with sector capitalization falling to $81 billion on July 22. As of this writing, it stands at $82 billion.
Pump.fun recently announced its first acquisition, buying Solana-based on-chain analytics tool Kolscan, in an attempt to diversify its roadmap into gamified trading tools.
