Most Solana rug pulls can be ruled out before you buy, in about ten minutes and without paying for anything. The technical rugs, pulled liquidity, printed supply and frozen wallets, all leave their switches visible on-chain. The human ones are harder, but they leave signs too.
Below, each step says where to look, what a red flag looks like and what the step shows for a real token: Epileptic (🟥🟩), the meme coin this site belongs to, with its live numbers. If you are new to the subject, what a rug pull is explains the five types these checks map to.
What do you need before you start?
The token's mint address, and nothing else. A block explorer such as Solscan, a market page on DEX Screener, and optionally an automated scanner like RugCheck will show you everything below. For the first three steps you can also ask the chain directly, which is what the scanners do:
curl https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"getAccountInfo","params":["HwPtbFpd3VTe3tfyosoVtPf9WPuSk5gAKkN5xp6Npump",{"encoding":"jsonParsed"}]}'The answer includes "mintAuthority": null, "freezeAuthority": null and, in owner, the token program the mint belongs to. Those three fields are steps 2 to 4.
The nine checks, step by step
- Confirm the contract address. Take it from the project's own X account or site, then match it character for character on the explorer. Tickers and names can be copied exactly; emoji tickers even more easily. Red flag: the address came from a reply, a DM or an ad. 🟥🟩:
HwPtbFpd3VTe3tfyosoVtPf9WPuSk5gAKkN5xp6Npump, printed in the footer of every page of this site. - Mint authority: revoked? If a wallet still holds it, that wallet can create unlimited new tokens and sell them into the pool. Red flag: any address in the mint authority field. 🟥🟩: null, revoked.
- Freeze authority: revoked? A freeze authority can freeze any holder's token account, so you can buy but never sell. This is the classic Solana honeypot. Red flag: any address in the freeze authority field. 🟥🟩: null, revoked.
- Which token program, and which extensions? Classic SPL tokens belong to the program
TokenkegQ…. Tokens on the newer Token-2022 program,TokenzQd…, can carry extensions: a transfer fee that can be raised, a permanent delegate that can move anyone's tokens, a transfer hook that runs code on every transfer. All three have legitimate uses and all three can be turned against holders. Red flag: a meme coin on Token-2022 with a permanent delegate or an adjustable fee. 🟥🟩: classic SPL token, no extensions. - Liquidity: how much, and is the LP burned? Find the main pool on DEX Screener. Its LP tokens are the claim on the pool's money; if they sit in an ordinary wallet, that wallet can withdraw the pool. pump.fun burns them automatically when a coin graduates to its own pool. Red flag: LP tokens held by a wallet, or "locked" only until a date next month. 🟥🟩: $75K in a Raydium pool, 99.99% of LP tokens burned.
- Holder concentration, excluding the pool. Open the holder list and remove two kinds of address before you judge it: the pool's own vault, which is usually the largest "holder", and the burn address. Then add up the top ten. A map tool such as Bubblemaps shows whether those top wallets are secretly linked. Red flag: a few connected wallets holding a third or more. 🟥🟩: the top ten wallets hold 12.8% of supply across 16,796 holders; the largest address on the list is the Raydium pool's vault, about 18% of supply, and is not a person.
- The creator wallet and the launch. On the explorer, find the wallet that created the token and what it did in the first hour. Many wallets buying in the same block as the launch ("bundled" buys) usually belong to one person. Red flag: the creator still holding a large share, or a cluster of launch-block buyers. 🟥🟩: the creator left early, as most pump.fun creators do, and the token has been run by its holders since; see what a CTO is.
- Are people actually selling? In the trade list, look for sells from many different wallets. A chart with only buys is a honeypot until proven otherwise. Red flag: no sells, or sells only from one or two addresses. 🟥🟩: sells from many different wallets in its trade history, visible on the token screen.
- Who holds the accounts and the money? No explorer shows this. Ask in the project's group who holds the X and Telegram admin rights and where money raised from holders goes, then check the wallet they name. Red flag: one person holds everything, or a campaign whose details "have to stay secret". 🟥🟩: this is the check the token once failed, in January 2025, and the reason its holders took it back. The story is in the Epileptic Cult guide.
What does a full check look like on one token?
| Check | Where to look | Red flag | 🟥🟩 today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract address | Project's own accounts | Address from a reply or DM | Matches the footer |
| Mint authority | Explorer, RPC | Any address | Revoked |
| Freeze authority | Explorer, RPC | Any address | Revoked |
| Token program | Explorer, RPC owner | Token-2022 with delegate or fee | Classic SPL |
| LP tokens | DEX Screener, Raydium | Held by a wallet | 99.99% burned |
| Top 10 holders | Explorer, Bubblemaps | Linked wallets over a third | 12.8%, pool excluded |
| Creator and launch | Explorer, first hour | Bundled launch buys | Creator gone; run by holders |
| Sells | Trade list | Only buys | Sells from many wallets |
| Accounts and money | Ask, then check | One person, secret spending | Failed once, fixed by a takeover |
Authorities, token program and LP burn read on 27 October 2026. Holders and liquidity are live.
Passing all nine does not make a token a good buy. It means the known ways of stealing from you are closed. The price can still fall to nothing because people stop buying, which is what happens to most meme coins. 🟥🟩 passes the technical checks and is still a thinly traded, volatile token with $75K of liquidity.
Are automated rug checkers enough?
They are a fast first pass. Scanners read steps 2 to 6 from the chain in a second and flag the obvious traps, and you should use one. But they score what they can see, and they can be wrong in both directions: a pool's vault counted as a whale makes a safe token look concentrated, and a clean score says nothing about steps 7 to 9. The insider rug, the one that takes the holders' marketing money, never shows up in a scanner. Read the scanner's result, then do the last three steps yourself.
Questions people ask
What is the best rug pull checker for Solana?
Automated scanners such as RugCheck read the same on-chain fields this checklist covers and are a good first pass. None of them can see who holds a project's passwords or marketing wallet, so treat a good score as the start of the check, not the end.
How do I know if a Solana token's liquidity is locked?
Look at the pool's LP tokens. If they were sent to the burn address, or the pool reports them as burned, nobody can withdraw the liquidity. pump.fun burns the LP tokens when a coin graduates to its own pool. DEX Screener and Raydium both show the burned share for most pools.
What does "mint authority revoked" mean?
It means no wallet has the right to create new tokens. The supply can only stay the same or fall, through burns. On a meme coin it should always be revoked; if it is not, someone can dilute every holder at will.
Can a token with a clean contract still be a rug pull?
Yes. A clean contract rules out pulled liquidity, minting and frozen wallets. It cannot stop insiders selling a large holding, or a leader taking the money holders raised for marketing. That is why steps 7 to 9 are about people.
Do pump.fun tokens have mint authority?
pump.fun creates its coins with a fixed supply of one billion and, as our own token's mint account shows, with no mint or freeze authority. Check every token anyway: the address ending in "pump" is easy to imitate in a token's name, but not in its mint address.