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What Is Raydium?

Raydium is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and automated market maker (AMM) protocol built on the Solana blockchain. It serves as one of the primary liquidity infrastructure layers for the Solana ecosystem, processing billions of dollars in monthly trading volume. What distinguishes Raydium from standard AMMs is its hybrid architecture: it combines traditional AMM liquidity pools with integration into OpenBook's central limit order book (CLOB), allowing liquidity from Raydium's pools to be accessible to the broader Solana trading ecosystem and vice versa.

Raydium launched in February 2021, during the early growth phase of the Solana DeFi ecosystem. The protocol was initially built to integrate with Serum, the first on-chain order book on Solana (created by FTX/Alameda Research). After the collapse of FTX in November 2022 and the subsequent wind-down of Serum, the community forked the order book into OpenBook, and Raydium migrated its integration accordingly. This resilience through a major ecosystem crisis demonstrated the protocol's robustness and the team's ability to adapt to changing conditions.

The core innovation of Raydium's hybrid model is that liquidity providers (LPs) who deposit into Raydium's AMM pools are not isolated from the rest of the market. Their liquidity is simultaneously accessible through OpenBook's order book, meaning that traders using any interface connected to OpenBook can tap into Raydium's liquidity. This dual access mechanism creates deeper effective liquidity, tighter spreads, and better price execution than what either a standalone AMM or a standalone order book could achieve individually.

Raydium offers multiple pool types to serve different needs. Standard AMM pools use the constant-product (x*y=k) formula for straightforward liquidity provision. Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker (CLMM) pools allow liquidity providers to allocate capital within specific price ranges, dramatically increasing capital efficiency. When a provider concentrates liquidity around the current price, their capital works harder, earning more fees per dollar deployed. However, concentrated positions require active management as the price moves. Liquidity providers in CLMM pools earn 84% of trading fees generated within their selected price range.

The RAY token is the native governance and utility token of the Raydium protocol. RAY holders can stake tokens to earn protocol fees, participate in governance decisions, and gain access to AcceleRaytor (now evolved into LaunchLab), Raydium's token launch platform. The token has a maximum supply of 555 million RAY. Staking RAY provides a share of protocol revenue and priority access to new token launches on the platform.

LaunchLab, which debuted in mid-April 2025, is Raydium's token launch platform that has become a dominant revenue driver for the protocol. LaunchLab allows new projects to bootstrap liquidity by launching tokens directly on Raydium with immediate secondary market trading. The platform competes with pump.fun and other Solana launchpads by offering an integrated experience where newly launched tokens instantly have access to Raydium's deep liquidity infrastructure. In Q3 2025, LaunchLab contributed $12.8 million in revenue (a 220% quarter-over-quarter increase), representing over half of Raydium's total quarterly revenue of $24.3 million.

Raydium benefits enormously from Solana's technical architecture: transactions finalize in approximately 400 milliseconds with fees typically under $0.01. This enables a trading experience that feels nearly instantaneous compared to Ethereum-based DEXs, where transactions can take minutes and gas fees during peak times can reach tens of dollars. The combination of speed, low cost, and deep liquidity has made Raydium the go-to venue for Solana traders, capturing approximately 16% of all Solana DEX market share by volume.

Getting Started With Raydium

Getting started with Raydium involves setting up a Solana wallet and connecting to the platform:

  1. Step 1: Install a Solana wallet such as Phantom, Solflare, or Backpack. Fund it with SOL for transaction fees and trading.
  2. Step 2: Visit raydium.io and connect your wallet by clicking "Connect Wallet" in the top right corner.
  3. Step 3: To swap tokens, navigate to the Swap page, select your input and output tokens, enter the amount, and confirm the transaction.
  4. Step 4: To provide liquidity, navigate to the Liquidity section, choose a pool (Standard AMM or CLMM), deposit your tokens, and start earning fees.
  5. Step 5: To stake RAY, go to the Staking section and deposit RAY tokens to earn protocol revenue and access LaunchLab launches.

For CLMM positions, you will need to select a price range for your liquidity. Tighter ranges earn more fees when the price stays within range but require more frequent rebalancing. Wider ranges earn fewer fees per dollar but require less active management.

How to Get a Raydium Wallet?

RAY is an SPL token on Solana and can be stored in any Solana-compatible wallet:

Phantom

Phantom is the most widely used Solana wallet, available as a browser extension and mobile app. It provides seamless integration with Raydium and displays all SPL tokens including RAY automatically. Phantom also includes a built-in swap feature powered by Jupiter aggregator.

Solflare

Solflare is a dedicated Solana wallet with strong security features and Ledger hardware wallet integration. It supports all Raydium interactions including swaps, liquidity provision, and staking directly through its DApp browser.

Backpack

Backpack is a modern multi-chain wallet with native Solana support. Built by the Coral team, it offers a clean interface for managing SPL tokens and interacting with Solana DeFi protocols including Raydium.

Ledger Hardware Wallet

For maximum security of larger RAY holdings, Ledger hardware wallets support Solana and all SPL tokens. Connect your Ledger to Phantom or Solflare to sign Raydium transactions securely while keeping private keys offline.

Raydium Resources

How to Buy Raydium?

RAY tokens can be purchased on both centralized and decentralized exchanges:

Centralized Exchanges

RAY is listed on several centralized exchanges including Gate.io, KuCoin, Bybit, and MEXC. Most offer RAY/USDT trading pairs. When withdrawing RAY, ensure you select the Solana (SPL) network to receive native RAY tokens compatible with Raydium's platform.

Decentralized Exchanges (Recommended)

The most natural way to acquire RAY is directly on Solana through Jupiter (the leading DEX aggregator) or on Raydium itself. Simply connect your Solana wallet, swap SOL or USDC for RAY, and the tokens are immediately available in your wallet for staking or liquidity provision. Jupiter aggregates liquidity across all Solana DEXs to find the best execution price.

After acquiring RAY, consider staking on Raydium to earn protocol revenue, or providing liquidity in RAY-paired pools to earn additional trading fees.

Latest Raydium News

Raydium has solidified its position as the leading DEX on Solana throughout 2025 and into 2026. The launch of LaunchLab in April 2025 transformed the protocol's revenue model, generating over half of total protocol revenue by Q3 2025. The platform processed $51.9 billion in trading volume during Q3 2025 alone (a 31% quarter-over-quarter increase), expanding its Solana DEX market share to 15.9%. Total quarterly revenue reached $24.3 million, a 69% increase over the previous quarter, demonstrating the powerful combination of AMM trading fees and token launch revenue.

In February 2025, Raydium launched its V3 Beta with a major protocol upgrade that further integrates AMM liquidity with OpenBook's order book for improved price execution. The protocol has also expanded beyond pure spot trading into tokenized real-world assets, partnering with platforms like xStocks for tokenized equities and facilitating over $250 million in tokenized stock volume (accounting for more than 90% of such volume on Solana by August 2025). In early 2026, Raydium launched a decentralized perpetuals trading platform, expanding its product suite beyond spot trading and liquidity provision into derivatives, competing with protocols like Drift and Jupiter Perps for Solana's growing derivatives market.