Pump.fun's Buyback Initiative Struggles as Whale Selling Continues

Pump.fun's PUMP token has seen a decline of nearly 35% in value over the past month, significantly lagging the overall cryptocurrency market.

Key Takeaways

PUMP token has declined nearly 35% in the past month, underperforming against the broader crypto market.
Despite a buyback program that has allocated $218.1 million to purchasing PUMP, the effects are minimal amid a market downturn.
Whale selling activity is contributing to PUMP's price drop, with significant losses reported by large holders.
Overall market trends and whale movements indicate that aggressive buybacks may not be effective in a declining market.

This drop occurs even with the platform's active buyback program, raising concerns about the effectiveness of such revenue-backed support mechanisms amid ongoing whale selling and a broader market slump.

Buybacks Are Not Enough Amid Market Decline

Pump.fun initiated its buyback program for the PUMP token in July 2025, soon after the token was launched. In this program, the platform dedicates 100% of its revenue to purchasing PUMP, which generates consistent daily buying pressure. Since the program's start, buybacks have totaled around $218.1 million, with $32.7 million spent in the last 30 days alone.

Typically, token buybacks are viewed as a bullish strategy because they decrease the circulating supply and provide lasting demand support. However, despite this aggressive revenue-based strategy, it has not managed to counteract the wider market downturn. Since early October, the cryptocurrency market has faced significant challenges, leading to a nearly 30% decline in overall market capitalization. Major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have also seen substantial losses during this period.

PUMP has indeed felt the impact, dropping approximately 35% in value over the last month. An analyst highlighted, “Pump.fun is putting 100% of its revenue into PUMP buybacks, creating nearly $1 million in daily buying pressure. Nevertheless, the token is down over 80% from its all-time high and around 30% below its previous all-time low (before buybacks). This indicates that buybacks, regardless of their scale, have limited effect in a market downturn, especially when the token's utility is restricted.”

The downward trend continued today, with the altcoin dropping an additional 6.9%. As of the latest report, it was trading at approximately $0.0017, a price that echoes levels seen during the October market-wide sell-off.

PUMP's situation has been made worse by recent activity from large holders. One whale recently transferred 3.8 billion PUMP tokens, worth about $7.57 million, to FalconX after holding the tokens for three months. This whale had initially withdrawn the tokens from Binance for $19.53 million, resulting in an unrealized loss of $12.22 million.

Data from Nansen shows that in the past month, balances of large investors—those with over 1 million PUMP tokens—have decreased by 13.07%. When major holders exit their positions at significant losses, it often signifies dwindling confidence in the token.

Overall, PUMP's performance underscores the limitations of even proactive, revenue-backed buybacks during broader market declines. With ongoing selling pressure from significant holders and a decreasing appetite for risk among investors, buybacks alone may not deliver the sustained price support needed for recovery.