// TrenchScore blog
Token Safety & Memecoin Research Guides
Free guides on spotting rug pulls and honeypots, reading holders and bubblemaps, liquidity, volume, momentum and trending tokens — from the TrenchScore team.
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How to Read a Token's Top Holders (and When to Worry)
Holder concentration tells you who can crash a token's price. Learn how to read the top holders list, which wallets to exclude, and what percentages are risky.
4 min read →// Token safetyHow to Spot a Rug Pull Before You Buy: 15 Red Flags
Rug pulls drain billions from crypto traders. Learn the 15 red flags — from mint authority to unlocked liquidity and insider wallets — and how to check them fast.
6 min read →// CommunityIs a Crypto Community Real? How to Spot Bots and Rented Hype
A strong community is a memecoin's only real asset — and the easiest thing to fake. Learn to tell a real Telegram and X community from bots, raids and paid shills.
3 min read →// GuidesMemecoin Due Diligence Checklist: 10 Minutes Before You Buy
A practical 10-minute checklist for researching any memecoin: contract, liquidity, holders, volume, community and exit plan. Save it, use it on every token.
3 min read →// Trending & momentumWhat Is Momentum in Crypto? How to Read It on New Tokens
Momentum is why some tokens keep running and others stall. Learn how to read momentum on memecoins — price, volume, buyers and age — and how to avoid chasing tops.
3 min read →// How TrenchScore worksWhat Is the TrenchScore? How We Rate a Token
The TrenchScore rates any token from 0 to 100 across momentum, contract safety, community, holder health and market. Here's what it means and how to use it.
3 min read →// Liquidity & volumeWhy Liquidity Matters: Slippage, Price Impact and Exit Risk
Liquidity decides how much you actually get when you sell. Learn how DEX pools price trades, how to estimate price impact, and how much liquidity is enough.
4 min read →Token Safety & Rug Pull Prevention
ALL 9 →Fake Tokens, Copycat Tickers and Address Poisoning
Anyone can launch a token with the same name and ticker as a real one. Learn how copycat tokens and address poisoning work, and how to verify a contract.
3 min read →// Token safetyHow to Spot a Rug Pull Before You Buy: 15 Red Flags
Rug pulls drain billions from crypto traders. Learn the 15 red flags — from mint authority to unlocked liquidity and insider wallets — and how to check them fast.
6 min read →// Token safetyLiquidity Locks vs LP Burns: What Actually Protects You
Locked liquidity and burned LP tokens both stop a hard rug — but not in the same way. Learn how each works, what to check, and the risks a lock doesn't cover.
4 min read →// Token safetyRenounced Ownership, Proxy Contracts and Hidden Admin Powers
'Ownership renounced' doesn't always mean safe. Learn how proxy upgrades, hidden owners and fake renounces keep control in a dev's hands — and how to check.
3 min read →// Token safetyMint Authority and Freeze Authority on Solana, Explained
What mint authority and freeze authority mean on Solana tokens, why active authorities are a rug risk, and how to check whether they've been revoked.
3 min read →// Token safetyToken-2022 Risks: Permanent Delegate, Transfer Fees and Hooks
Solana's Token-2022 extensions add powerful features — and new scams. Learn how permanent delegate, transfer fees and transfer hooks can be abused and how to check.
3 min read →// Token safetyToken Buy and Sell Taxes: How High Is Too High?
Some tokens charge a fee on every buy or sell. Learn how token taxes work, what's normal, why adjustable taxes are dangerous, and how to check before you trade.
3 min read →// Token safetyWallet Drainers, Token Approvals and Permit Signatures: Protect Your Wallet
Wallet drainers stole hundreds of millions through fake sites and malicious signatures. Learn how approvals and permit signatures work and how to stay safe.
3 min read →// Token safetyWhat Is a Honeypot Token? How to Check If You Can Sell
A honeypot token lets you buy but not sell. Learn how honeypot contracts work — blacklists, freeze authority, sell taxes — and how to detect one before you buy.
4 min read →Holder Analysis, Bubblemaps & Insider Wallets
ALL 3 →Bundles, Snipers and Insider Wallets: How Launches Get Rigged
Many memecoin launches are bought out by insiders in the first block. Learn what bundles, snipers and insider clusters are, real examples, and how to spot them.
3 min read →// Holders & walletsHow to Read a Bubblemap: Spotting Wallet Clusters in Seconds
A bubblemap shows a token's holders as bubbles and links the wallets that are connected. Learn how to read one and which patterns signal insider control.
3 min read →// Holders & walletsHow to Read a Token's Top Holders (and When to Worry)
Holder concentration tells you who can crash a token's price. Learn how to read the top holders list, which wallets to exclude, and what percentages are risky.
4 min read →Liquidity, Volume & Market Cap Explained
ALL 5 →Reading Buy/Sell Pressure and Transaction Counts
Buys vs sells, transaction counts and trade sizes reveal who's in control of a token's price. Learn how to read buy/sell pressure without getting fooled.
2 min read →// Liquidity & volumeMarket Cap vs FDV vs Liquidity: Which Number Actually Matters?
Market cap, fully diluted valuation and liquidity measure very different things. Learn what each means for memecoins, low-float tokens and your exit.
3 min read →// Liquidity & volumeTrading Volume Explained: Real Demand vs Wash Trading
Volume is the most-watched and most-faked number in crypto. Learn what healthy volume looks like, how wash trading inflates it, and the signs that volume is fake.
3 min read →// Liquidity & volumeVolume-to-Liquidity Ratio: A 10-Second Token Health Check
Dividing 24h volume by liquidity tells you how hard a pool is working. Learn what a healthy volume-to-liquidity ratio looks like and what extreme readings mean.
2 min read →// Liquidity & volumeWhy Liquidity Matters: Slippage, Price Impact and Exit Risk
Liquidity decides how much you actually get when you sell. Learn how DEX pools price trades, how to estimate price impact, and how much liquidity is enough.
4 min read →Trending Tokens & Momentum
ALL 5 →DEX Paid, Boosts and Ads: What Paid Promotion Really Signals
'DEX paid' is one of the first things memecoin traders check. Learn what paid profiles, boosts and ads actually mean, what they signal, and what they don't.
3 min read →// Trending & momentumHow DEX Screener Trending Works — and Why Trending Doesn't Mean Safe
What goes into DEX Screener's trending score, how boosts and paid info affect it, and why a trending token still needs a safety check before you buy.
3 min read →// Trending & momentumThe First 24 Hours of a New Token: What to Watch, Hour by Hour
Most new tokens are decided in their first day. Learn what normally happens in the first minutes, hours and day after launch, and what separates survivors.
3 min read →// Trending & momentumPump.fun Bonding Curves and Graduation, Explained
How Pump.fun's bonding curve prices new tokens, what 'graduating' to a DEX means, how few tokens make it, and what to check before and after graduation.
3 min read →// Trending & momentumWhat Is Momentum in Crypto? How to Read It on New Tokens
Momentum is why some tokens keep running and others stall. Learn how to read momentum on memecoins — price, volume, buyers and age — and how to avoid chasing tops.
3 min read →Crypto Communities, Socials & Hype
ALL 2 →Crypto Telegram Scams: Fake Admins, Clone Groups and Support Bots
Telegram is where memecoin communities live — and where scammers hunt. Learn the most common crypto Telegram scams and the simple rules that stop them.
3 min read →// CommunityIs a Crypto Community Real? How to Spot Bots and Rented Hype
A strong community is a memecoin's only real asset — and the easiest thing to fake. Learn to tell a real Telegram and X community from bots, raids and paid shills.
3 min read →Memecoin Research Guides & Checklists
ALL 3 →Memecoin & DEX Trading Glossary: 50+ Terms Explained Simply
From ape and bonding curve to wash trading and whale: plain-English definitions of 50+ terms every memecoin and DEX trader runs into.
4 min read →// GuidesHow to Research Any Token with TrenchScore (Step by Step)
Paste a contract address, read the report. A walkthrough of every part of a TrenchScore token page — score, chart, bubblemap, holders, audit, community and market.
3 min read →// GuidesMemecoin Due Diligence Checklist: 10 Minutes Before You Buy
A practical 10-minute checklist for researching any memecoin: contract, liquidity, holders, volume, community and exit plan. Save it, use it on every token.
3 min read →How TrenchScore Works
ALL 2 →How the Trench 100 Is Built
The Trench 100 ranks the best tokens on any chain every three hours. Here's how tokens are found, scanned, filtered for scams and ranked by TrenchScore.
3 min read →// How TrenchScore worksWhat Is the TrenchScore? How We Rate a Token
The TrenchScore rates any token from 0 to 100 across momentum, contract safety, community, holder health and market. Here's what it means and how to use it.
3 min read →Educational content, not financial advice. Crypto assets are highly risky — always do your own research.