About Raydium (RAY)

A recent addition to the ever-expanding Solana ecosystem, Raydium works in tandem with Serum, SOL’s decentralized exchange (DEX), augmenting liquidity.

RAY is Raydium's utility token. It can be staked/deposited on the platform.

Any funds locked into Raydium, a blockchain-run, liquidity-pool-enabled automated market maker (AMM), get converted into limit orders that flow into Serum. This effectively forms a kind of on-chain estuary connecting smart-contract-abetted liquidity with Serum’s more traditional order book buyer/seller matching mechanism (although, not that traditional, considering there are smart contracts involved).

Raydium's swap feature allows users to swap tokens through Serum, as Messari explains, while also allowing users to employ other trading features, such as limit orders.

Raydium AMM’s mainnet launched in February 2021. "Our vision was to drive ecosystem-wide liquidity for Solana by creating an AMM that interacts with Serum’s central limit order book," team members said in a 100-days-milestone-marking blog last spring. "All while solving key challenges for users like high fees and slow transactions."

Raydium prioritizes user experience, seamless transactions and aims for the best price swaps it can facilitate, whether via a liquidity pool or by tapping the Serum order book. Its team boasts of providing ecosystem-wide liquidity for numerous Solana based projects and users.

AcceleRaytor is Raydium’s launching pad for projects to deploy and raise capital. A parade of this new-launch activity is referenced here.

Raydium’s core development team uses pseudonyms. "AlphaRay" runs the project’s strategy and business development; "XRay" is chief of technology. They are joined by "GammaRay," "StingRay" and "RayZor," responsible for a range of activities, including marketing, trading and security.

RAY is a key part of Raydium’s sphere of influence, paying for transaction fees and funding rewards.

RAY can be staked or deposited into liquidity pools, thereby earning additional rewards. Assets swapped via a Raydium liquidity pool earn a 0.03% fee, paid out in RAY to depositor-holders connected with that pool.

The current price of RAY

As of early March 2022, RAY was trading at about $2.40, some 85% lower than its all-time high reached in September 2021.

Following a relentless streak of momentum right out of the gate, RAY sank to below $3 in July 2022 and then re-gained momentum, soaring to almost $17 on Sept 12, 2021.

Its lowest level ever was $2.36 reached on Feb. 24, 2022, at a time of uncertainty as risk-assets plummeted amidst rising geopolitical tension.

How the price of RAY is determined

Some 555 million RAY tokens were created at its genesis; about one-third 34% are slotted for continual release, as liquidity incentives (“mining reserves”), at least until early 2024. Another 30% of the supply was reserved for partnerships and the gradual expansion of the Raydium ecosystem. These tokens are generally locked for one year and unlock linearly over the next two years, according to Coin98Insights. Because there is a finite supply of RAY tokens, capped at 555 million, there is the prospect of appreciation, provided investors continue to see value in Raydium, and the Solana ecosystem.

What the bulls are saying about Raydium (RAY)

• RAY has momentum that is certainly intriguing and may carry the asset closer toward $20, per an analysis in autumn of 2021 by Crypto Mode.
• Raydium, allowing access to the liquidity of the entire Serum ecosystem, solves the problem of high slippage and liquidity shortage experienced in big transactions, said Coin98Insights.
• As of late February, the outlook for RAY is bullish, in that it possibly could go to as high as $5 by the end of 2022, said CaptainAltcoin.com.

What the bears are saying about Raydium (RAY)

• Three key areas that could negatively impact the project: security risks, competition, and dependency on Solana’s ecosystem growth, stated Crypto Briefing.
• All but 4 out of 26 technical indicators, as of early March, were suggesting that the outlook for RAY is bearish, CoinCodex said.
• According to WalletInvestor, RAY is a bad investment, at least looking out over the next 12 months.