A rug pull is when the people behind a token suddenly take the value out of it and leave everyone else holding tokens that can't be sold for much.
Common types
- Liquidity pull. The creator removes the liquidity from the trading pool, so there's almost nothing left to sell into.
- Supply dump. Insiders who quietly hold a large share, often through bundled wallets, sell all at once.
- Contract abuse. Hidden permissions let the owner mint new tokens, block sales (honeypot) or raise sell taxes.
How common is it?
Very. Academic studies of new tokens in 2026 found that most showed rug-pull behaviour. One analysis of 100,000 new Solana tokens classed 76% as rug pulls. Short lifecycles are normal. The median rug token lived less than an hour.
How to reduce the risk
Check the contract permissions, whether liquidity is locked or burned, how concentrated supply is (counting linked wallets together), and the deployer's history. The rug-pull checklist guide walks through each step.
Educational content only. Not financial advice.