How to tell if a memecoin is a rug pull: the signs you can actually check

Updated October 1, 2026 · 6 min read

What a rug pull is

“Rug pull” means pulling the rug out from under someone. It is when whoever created or controls a token withdraws the money from the liquidity pool or sells a huge amount of their tokens, and the price collapses. Those who bought are left with tokens that nobody can buy anymore or that are worth almost nothing.

The most common types

• Liquidity removal: the creator takes the money out of the pool. Without liquidity, you cannot sell.
• Mass sell by the creator: they hold a large percentage of the supply and sell it all at once.
• Minting more tokens: if the contract allows issuing more, the creator can flood the market.
• Slow rug (soft rug): they sell little by little, over days, while still promoting the token.
• Honeypot: it does not let you sell. We have a separate guide.

The signs you can check

1. Liquidity: how much there is and whether it is locked

With low liquidity, a single seller sinks the price. And if the liquidity is neither locked nor burned, the creator can withdraw it. See our locked liquidity guide.

2. Who holds the tokens

If a few wallets concentrate a large part of the supply (not counting the pool), they can all sell together. Also check whether several of those wallets are connected to each other: sometimes one group spreads its tokens across many addresses to look like a big community.

3. The contract's permissions

On Solana, two permissions matter a lot: the mint authority, which allows creating more tokens, and the freeze authority, which allows blocking accounts. Both should be disabled. On Ethereum-type networks, look for functions that let the owner change taxes, block wallets or pause transfers.

4. Age

The newer the pair, the higher the risk: that is when insiders buy first and creators who plan to exit quickly act. A token with weeks of real activity, steady volume and spread-out holders is less risky than one from an hour ago.

5. Volume and buying pressure

Volume that is disproportionate to liquidity can indicate trades between the same wallets to fake activity (wash trading). Also look at the ratio of buys to sells.

6. Identity and socials

A token with no website or socials, or with freshly created profiles with no history, does not prove a scam, but it adds risk. And be wary of clones: tokens with the same name and ticker as a popular one but a different contract.

A quick 5-step check

1. Verify the contract (CA) from a trusted source.
2. Look at liquidity, volume and age on a pool explorer.
3. Check the contract's permissions (mint, freeze, taxes).
4. Check the holder distribution, not counting the pools.
5. Decide how much you are willing to lose and where you would exit, before you buy.

The important part: there are no guarantees

A token can pass all these checks and still fall, for the simplest reason: nobody wants to buy it. These signs are useful to rule out the most obvious cases and lower the risk, not to eliminate it.

Educational content, not financial advice. Memecoins are high-risk assets and you can lose everything you invest. No review guarantees that a token is safe.