PUMP price rebounds as quiet buybacks fuel a $666m volume surge

PUMP just pulled off a quiet rebellion. While critics dismissed it as another failed launch, the token rallied hard as Pump.fun deployed 98% of its revenue to buy back supply. The $666 million volume suggests conviction, but the real test is whether buyers stick around.

On July 31, Pump.fun (PUMP) surged past skeptical traders with a 27% intraday rally, climbing from $0.0025 to a high of $0.003267 before settling at $0.002929 as of press time, CoinMarketCap data shows.

The move appeared more engineered than organic. It came as on-chain data showed Pump.fun channeling roughly 98% of the previous day’s PumpFun / PumpSwap fees directly into market buy orders, effectively shrinking the free float while trading volume ballooned to $666 million, up 22% on the session.

Can buybacks overcome PUMP’s rocky start?

Thursday’s 27% surge marks PUMP’s strongest move since its brutal post-launch collapse, but the rally comes with baggage. Just days before the buyback-fueled rebound, the token had fallen below its $0.004 ICO price, dragged down by a mass exodus of early investors.

Blockchain data shows private sale whales dumped over $160 million worth of PUMP onto exchanges last week, with two wallets alone offloading 29.5 billion tokens. The sell pressure was expected: BitMEX analysts noted that 60% of presale participants liquidated or transferred positions immediately after launch.

The buyback strategy has at least temporarily shifted sentiment. Notably, crypto trader Machi Big Brother took a sizable long position following the revenue-recycling move, betting that artificial supply contraction could override weak fundamentals.

But the math remains tricky. Pump.fun would need to sustain these buybacks indefinitely to offset the remaining $29.5 million in whale holdings and the 37% of presale investors still sitting on unrealized losses.

Meanwhile, technicals suggest the token could retest $0.004 resistance if momentum holds, but the larger question lingers: Can a memecoin designed for viral pumps evolve into something more sustainable?

For now, the market’s verdict is split, with PUMP’s funding rates remaining neutral, indicating neither shorts nor longs have full conviction. The next critical test comes when buyback volumes taper off, revealing whether this was a tactical reset or just another exit-liquidity play.