Anyone who spent time on the old Startup noticed something: in the same activity, one person gets a big share and another gets a sliver. The difference comes mostly from VIP level. Gate gives high-VIP users a clearly higher allocation cap, and the rule has a much-quoted form: the square of your level times a factor. This article walks through that mechanism, and along the way puts the easiest-to-overlook fact on the table: a big share doesn't mean a big gain.
One note up front: the formula and cap below are a description of the mechanism. Gate has adjusted the rules more than once, and the numbers floating around don't always agree, so this article talks in terms of "roughly this magnitude, per official rules" rather than handing you a hard figure. To connect allocation back to the launch flow as a whole, go back to the complete guide to Gate launches.
"Level² × 10" and the non-VIP draw below describe the old Startup section. Its address now redirects to HODLer Airdrop, where holding at least 1 GT lets you sign up and your share follows your average GT holding over the project against all participants, with no draw; VIP level only affects the personal cap on VIP-tagged projects. Paid token sales run through Launchpad, and how those are allocated is set on the current activity page. Use the formula here only when an activity page says subscription shares are set by VIP level.
01The formula: making sense of level² × 10
Gate's public material has described a user's maximum subscribable share as tied to VIP level and calculated as level² × 10, with a separate per-user cap. Official sources do not show one consistent cap number, so this page does not state a universal ceiling; the formula, cap and eligibility all come from the current activity page.
The point of the "squared" design is this: the share cap doesn't rise linearly with level, it widens faster the higher you go. Going from VIP 1 to VIP 2 isn't a small bump; the cap pulls apart on a squared relationship. That's why high-VIP users have a clear edge on allocation. But mind the word "cap": it's the ceiling you could reach, not what you'll definitely get; the actual amount still depends on the total on offer, how many join, and so on.
Put your VIP level into the old Startup allocation estimator and it shows the indicative maximum share. It runs the formula only and forecasts no returns — it's there to build the intuition for how level and the share cap relate.
02Indicative shares by VIP tier (one table)
The table below uses "level² × 10" as an illustrative calculation to give you a feel for the gap between tiers. Note: the figures are indicative results of that formula, not official promised values; the real numbers are per the official rules page and the specific activity.
| VIP level | Indicative cap (level² × 10) | Sense of the scaling |
|---|---|---|
| VIP 1 | around 10 units (indicative) | baseline |
| VIP 3 | around 90 units (indicative) | pulls clearly ahead |
| VIP 5 | around 250 units (indicative) | gap widens further |
| VIP 8 | around 640 units (indicative) | high-tier edge is marked |
| Higher tiers | may be bound by the current per-user cap | stops growing at the round's limit |
Reading this table, the point isn't to memorise a number — it's to take away two feelings: the higher the level, the faster the cap pulls apart; and there's a ceiling even so, it doesn't scale without limit. Real shares are per the official page and the current round; this is only to set your sense of magnitude.
03How non-VIPs got a share in the old Startup: the random draw
In the old Startup, users with no VIP level, or a very low one, generally went through a random draw in free airdrops: the system picks a portion at random from everyone who meets KYC and the balance bar. That means two things:
- Luck is involved: winning is random, not winning is normal, and it doesn't mean you did anything wrong.
- Per-draw shares are usually small: even when a non-VIP wins, the amount is typically modest. Treating it as "a small free share" keeps your head steadier.
So in the old Startup non-VIPs could absolutely take part — they just got less, and it was a draw. Today's HODLer Airdrop has no draw: non-VIPs join too and are split by GT holding. This lane suits beginners learning the flow and building experience; it's not something to lean on for meaningful returns. The current non-VIP floor (KYC plus 1 GT) and how shares are split are covered separately: can non-VIPs join launches.
On "win rate," don't get boxed in by a number
This applies to draw-based activities; HODLer Airdrop splits by holding share, so there is no win rate. People want a clear "what's the win rate," but that number is different every activity and has no fixed official value. It depends on how much is on offer this round, how many people join, and the VIP mix. More entrants and fewer units on offer naturally lower the odds; the reverse raises them. So rather than ask "what's the win rate," understand one thing: for non-VIPs this is, over the long run, a low-probability event with a small per-hit amount. Treat each round as independent luck, and move on to the next if you miss — that's more useful than chasing a fixed figure that doesn't exist. Don't believe anyone who claims to "calculate a precise win rate" or "guarantee a win."
04What "raising your share" really means
Once the mechanism is clear, the answer to "how do I get a bigger share" is direct. In the old Startup subscriptions it was raise your VIP level, and VIP level is tied mainly to your GT holdings (plus volume and other conditions). In today's HODLer Airdrop it's even more direct: your share is your average GT holding, and VIP only lifts the cap on VIP-tagged projects. Either way, "I want a bigger share" translates to "hold more GT." The thresholds for each tier are in how much GT for VIP1, easier to scan with the VIP threshold lookup.
But there's an unavoidable risk here that has to be spelled out:
GT is an asset that rises and falls. Piling up a large amount of GT just to win a bigger launch share means stacking GT's price risk on top of your launch return. If GT falls more than the value of the extra share you gained, you're net down overall. Whether it's worth it depends on how often and how large you join launches — and whether you'd want to hold GT at all; don't pile in just because the share gets bigger. Whether to buy GT, and how, is in the GT complete guide.
Working from the published allocation mechanism, we ran the share caps for different VIP tiers through the estimator. The instinctive impression: high VIP really does have an edge on share, and the gap is bigger than you'd guess. But the moment we factored in "how much extra GT you'd have to lock up to climb a tier," it lost a lot of its shine — a swing in that extra GT's price can easily outweigh the extra share. Our honest read: if you already plan to hold GT for the long run, the VIP bump comes along for the ride; if you're stacking it temporarily just for launches, work out whether you actually want to carry that added price risk first.
05The one line to remember: share ≠ profit
This article spent a lot of words on "how to get a bigger share," but the last line is the point: a big share doesn't mean a big gain. Your share only sets how many new tokens you get; what they're worth depends on the price after listing. If the new token dumps (trades below the opening price), a bigger share can just make the paper loss more glaring.
So get the order straight: share is the quantity, price is the price, profit is quantity times price. A high-VIP user holding a big share of a token that dumped isn't necessarily ahead of a non-VIP who drew a small share of a strong one. Don't treat "raise VIP, get more share" as a cure-all for returns — it scales the quantity without changing the uncertainty on price. We run the profit-and-loss math in more detail in can you actually make money on launches.
The allocation formula, per-user cap and VIP thresholds are defined by Gate's official rules, have been revised several times, and the figures reposted elsewhere often disagree. The formula and worked example here exist only to explain the mechanism; for the real numbers, defer to Gate's official activity pages and VIP notes as shown for the current round. The current-state notes follow the FAQ on Gate's HODLer Airdrop page, the help articles “How to Participate in Gate HODLer Airdrop” (2025-04-22) and “What is Launchpad?” (2025-04-02), and the 2025-02-24 migration announcement, checked on 2026-09-25.