Name the mechanism. Preserve the evidence. Keep uncertainty visible.
Field guides to the ways token markets, supply, identity, activity, and execution can be manipulated. Each guide separates direct chain evidence, tool inference, and the claims that still need proof.
15 threats live
Category complete · 15 guides
Rug pulls: the exit can fail in several different ways
Separate liquidity withdrawal, supply inflation, frozen accounts, concentrated selling, and other exit failures instead of treating every rug as the same event.
Read the guideInsider clusters: links, funding, and entity inference
Investigate transfers, common funders, synchronized behavior, and supply control without claiming that connected addresses automatically share one owner.
Read the guideWash trading: volume without independent demand
Distinguish real swap events from evidence that independent parties took economic risk, then test repeated flows, controller links, and net position change.
Read the guideClone launches: copied identity and contract confusion
Resolve names, tickers, images, websites, and announcements back to the exact contract before a familiar identity becomes the bait.
Read the guidePump.fun groups: coordinated attention and exit liquidity
Read coordinated calls, staged urgency, privileged entry, and organizer incentives as a distribution problem rather than a shared opportunity.
Read the guideFake KOLs: borrowed credibility and undisclosed incentives
Verify identity, payment, allocation, timing, and disclosure when an account's reputation is being used to transfer trust to a token.
Read the guideSniper bots: launch-time speed and adverse selection
Understand how automated early entry, bundles, priority, and pre-positioning can change the inventory and price offered to later traders.
Read the guideBackdoors: retained authority and hidden control
Audit privileged functions, upgrade paths, token authorities, delegates, hooks, and admin surfaces that can change the rules after launch.
Read the guideImpersonation scams: fake teams, support, and announcements
Authenticate accounts and destinations across compromised profiles, lookalike handles, fake support agents, and copied announcement channels.
Read the guideHoneypots: buying is easy; selling is constrained
Test sellability, allowlists, transfer rules, taxes, simulation limits, and state changes that can make a successful buy a one-way trade.
Read the guideLiquidity-pull scams: removable depth and false permanence
Trace pool ownership, LP positions, lockers, unlock terms, migrations, and reserve changes to learn who can remove executable depth.
Read the guideFake volume bots: activity designed for dashboards
Identify mechanical prints, maker inflation, recycled inventory, and incentive loops built to improve visibility rather than price discovery.
Read the guideBundled supply: linked holders behind many addresses
Reconstruct launch bundles, dispersal paths, common funding, and synchronized exits before mistaking address count for independent ownership.
Read the guideCompromised socials: legitimate accounts, malicious launches
Handle authentic-looking posts from hijacked accounts by verifying contract provenance, recovery notices, and independent communication channels.
Read the guideTransfer-fee traps: Token-2022 controls and changing costs
Inspect transfer fees, extension authorities, hooks, delegates, frozen defaults, and wallet support before the token's control surface reaches execution.
Read the guideClaim → evidence