Quick Answer
Honeypot detection · LP lock · Mint authority · Sell tax
| Signal | Risk | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mint Authority Active | Critical | Solana SPL tokens have a mint authority — an address that can create additional token supply. Unlike Ethereum where you read the contract, Solana mint authority is a first-class token property queryable directly. If mint authority is set to any non-null address, the holder can mint unlimited tokens at any time and dump them. | A Solana memecoin with 1 billion total supply and active mint authority. At peak price, the developer mints 10 billion more tokens, sells them through Raydium, crashes the price 99%, and exits with profits. |
| Freeze Authority Active | Critical | Solana SPL tokens can have a freeze authority — an address that can freeze any token account, preventing the holder from transferring or selling their tokens. An active freeze authority allows the developer to freeze all non-dev token accounts and then drain liquidity, trapping every holder with worthless frozen tokens. | Developer sets freeze authority on all holder accounts simultaneously, then removes Raydium liquidity. Every holder's tokens are frozen and worthless — they cannot even move them to a new wallet. |
| Raydium LP Tokens Unlocked | Critical | Raydium LP tokens representing pool liquidity are held directly by the deployer wallet rather than a time-locked contract. The deployer can remove all liquidity from the Raydium pool in a single transaction, crashing the token price instantly. | A Solana memecoin with $500K in Raydium liquidity where the deployer holds all LP tokens. Deployer calls removeLiquidity(), takes the SOL and paired token from the pool, token crashes to $0. |
| Creator Holds Large Supply % | High | The token creator wallet or a small cluster of wallets holds 20%+ of total supply. Even with locked liquidity, a large developer allocation allows gradual token dumping — a soft rug that slowly bleeds price over days or weeks as the creator sells. | A Solana token where the top 5 wallets (all controlled by the same deployer via burner accounts) hold 40% of supply. Over 2 weeks, the creator sells 10% of supply per day, steadily dumping price. |
| pump.fun Token Risk | High | Tokens launched on pump.fun graduate to Raydium automatically when they reach a $69K market cap. Most pump.fun tokens are created by anonymous developers with no roadmap, no team, and no utility. The platform's easy token creation model has become the primary vehicle for memecoin rug pulls on Solana in 2024-2026. | A pump.fun token reaching graduation with 10,000 holders. The anonymous creator dumps their pre-graduation allocation on the Raydium pool, causing a 70% price crash within minutes of graduation. |
| No Token Metadata / Mutable Metadata | Medium | Solana tokens with mutable metadata allow the creator to change the token's name, symbol, and URI after deployment. A token can launch as a legitimate-seeming project and then have its metadata changed to something else — or metadata can be used to impersonate existing tokens. | A token launched as 'SolanaAI' with professional metadata. After reaching $1M market cap, creator changes metadata URI to a trash image and name to 'ruggedcoin' — signaling they're done with the project. |