How long after a pump.fun CTO does the price peak?
Among the 116 takeovers in the last 60 days that rose at least 10% after the alert, the median peak came 6h 2m after the alert; a quarter peaked within 1h 8m and a quarter took longer than 17h 0m. 22% peaked inside the first hour, 49% within six hours, and 16% were still making new highs after 24 hours. The median peak was 1.65x the alert price. Updated 2026-09-11.
Cite as: Belphor Research (2026). How long after a pump.fun CTO does the price peak? Belphor Data, https://belphor.com/data/cto-hold-time. Updated 2026-09-11. CC BY 4.0.
When the peak came
| Time to peak | Takeovers | Share | Median peak (x) | Reached +100% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 15 minutes | 8 | 6.9% | 1.23x | 13% |
| 15 to 60 minutes | 18 | 16% | 1.72x | 39% |
| 1 to 3 hours | 18 | 16% | 1.58x | 33% |
| 3 to 6 hours | 13 | 11% | 1.65x | 31% |
| 6 to 12 hours | 23 | 20% | 1.53x | 39% |
| 12 to 24 hours | 17 | 15% | 1.69x | 29% |
| 24 to 36 hours | 19 | 16% | 2.47x | 63% |
Late peakers are rarer but larger: the coins still climbing after a day are the ones that produce the biggest multiples.
By market cap at the takeover
| Market cap | Takeovers | Share | Median time to peak | Median peak (x) | Reached +100% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| under $15k | 57 | 49% | 6h 0m | 1.60x | 39% |
| $15k to $50k | 41 | 35% | 4h 0m | 1.85x | 39% |
| $50k to $150k | 11 | 9.5% | 9h 18m | 1.65x | 27% |
| over $150k | 7 | 6.0% | 3h 44m | 1.24x | 43% |
How this is measured
Every pump.fun community takeover Belphor detected on-chain in the window, at least 37 hours old, with at least 30 minute-level price readings in the 36 hours after the alert. Only takeovers whose highest price was at least 10% above the alert price are included, since a coin that never rose has no peak to time.
Time to peak is the time of the highest price reading in the 36-hour window; a coin still rising at 36 hours is counted in the last bucket. Peaks beyond 36 hours are not tracked here.
Multiples are the peak price divided by the alert price. Prices come from Belphor's snapshot record (DexScreener pair data). Recomputed nightly from the raw record; nothing is curated by hand.
Frequently asked
How long should you hold a CTO coin?
There is no single answer, which is the point of publishing the distribution: the median takeover in this record peaked 6h 2m after the alert, but a quarter peaked within 1h 8m and 16% were still rising a day later. Rules that sell on a fixed clock miss the late runners; rules that wait for a give-back from the peak keep them. Belphor's public record of exit rules is on the Academy.
Do CTO coins pump immediately?
22% of the takeovers that rose at all peaked within the first hour, so the immediate pump is real but it is the minority case. Most peaks in this record came hours later.
Where does this data come from?
From Belphor's own on-chain detection of pump.fun creator-change instructions and its minute-level price snapshots, recomputed nightly from the raw record. The JSON and CSV files on this page contain the same numbers.
Belphor detects pump.fun takeovers on-chain in real time, scores every signal, trades member strategies on paper or live, and publishes every outcome. No promises, just receipts.
Explore Belphor →