> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://degen-capital-1.gitbook.io/degen-capital-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://degen-capital-1.gitbook.io/degen-capital-docs/degen-capital/the-prize-pool/how-the-pool-fills.md).

# How the Pool Fills

Two revenue streams, each split down the middle, released over five rounds.

![Two streams, one pool](https://3552858075-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGyJ2fCw8mpbx6YAYcG8z%2Fuploads%2FbZmilNETO81A3PZx7p72%2Ffig-15-pool-fill-v3.svg?alt=media)

Every round's pool is built from two things, and you feed both of them just by playing:

| Stream               | Where it comes from                           | Share reaching the pool |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ----------------------: |
| $DEFUND trading fees | The 3% fee on every buy and sell of the token |                     50% |
| In-game spending     | Every $DEFUND you spend on the office         |                     50% |

The halves that do not reach the pool do not sit around. The rest of the trading fees is held in a vault that can only top up a pool or buy $DEFUND back, and the rest of your in-game spending is **burned**. [Tokenomics](https://degen-capital-1.gitbook.io/degen-capital-docs/degen-capital/tokenomics) follows every leg of that in full.

## A round does not spend its own fees

Trading is loudest in the first rounds and quieter after. If each round paid out everything it collected, the opening would be enormous and every round after it would read as a let-down.

So a round's fee take is released over **5 rounds**, at **20%** each. Only a fifth of what a round collects lands in its own pool. The rest pays into the next four.

{% hint style="success" %}
**Every pool draws on 5 rounds of fees at once.** A loud round keeps paying long after it is over, so the hundredth round still has a pool worth playing for. See [The Release Schedule](https://degen-capital-1.gitbook.io/degen-capital-docs/degen-capital/tokenomics/the-release-schedule).
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
Nothing is withheld and nothing is lost. A take that has not been paid out yet is owed to rounds that have not happened yet.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
Payouts begin once $DEFUND is trading. Cycles you trade before then are scored exactly the same way, so the record you build now is real.
{% endhint %}


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