Short answer
A launchpad is a service that lets anyone create and start trading a new token in a few clicks, usually on a bonding curve, without setting up a liquidity pool themselves.
Launchpads made token creation almost effortless: choose a name, ticker and image, pay a small fee, and the token is live and tradable. That's why thousands of new Solana tokens appear every day.
Many launchpads enforce some protections by design, such as fixed supply and revoked mint and freeze authority. That removes some rug tricks but not the biggest one: early buyers and insiders selling on later ones.
When you buy a launchpad token, you're usually very early in a very crowded race. Size accordingly.
See the checks for yourself
18+ only. Self-custodial: you keep your keys. 0.5% per trade, no minimum. Memecoins can go to zero.