How to spot a rug pull before you buy

The four checks that catch most scams

• Liquidity locked or burned — unlocked liquidity can be pulled at any moment.
• Mint authority revoked — otherwise the deployer can print supply into your position.
• Freeze authority revoked — otherwise your tokens can be made untransferable.
• Holder distribution — a top wallet holding a double-digit percentage is a standing exit risk.

Honeypots: you can buy but not sell

A honeypot token permits buys and blocks sells, usually through transfer restrictions or an extreme sell tax. Most terminals run a sell simulation and display the result. If a terminal cannot tell you whether the token is sellable, that is a reason to use a different terminal, not to trade blind.

Social signals are the weakest evidence

Follower counts, trending placements and paid promotion are all purchasable. Wallet-level evidence is not: who funded the deployer, whether the same wallet deployed failed tokens before, and whether early buyers are connected. This is why smart-money tracking has become the most valuable feature category in on-chain terminals.

Position sizing beats analysis

Every check above reduces risk; none removes it. Traders who survive size positions so that a total loss is survivable, keep trading balances separate from long-term holdings, and accept that a share of early-stage tokens will go to zero regardless of diligence.