Solana Token Safety Checklist: 20 Questions to Ask Before Every Buy

The most important habit you can build as a Solana token buyer

The difference between traders who consistently lose money to Solana token scams and those who don't is rarely intelligence, experience, or information access. It's process. Scam tokens succeed not because buyers can't detect them — the signals are often visible with basic due diligence — but because buyers skip the due diligence when excitement is high and the pressure to act fast is intense.

A pre-purchase checklist is a tool that works against this tendency. By committing to a defined set of questions before every purchase, you create a forcing function that slows the decision process, activates analytical thinking, and catches the obvious red flags that FOMO would otherwise let slip through. This guide presents 20 specific questions, organized into four phases, that constitute a complete pre-purchase process for any Solana token.

Phase 1 — Security verification (Questions 1–7)

These questions address the structural safety of the token itself — whether it has been engineered to harm buyers. Any "No" answer in this phase is a potential disqualifying flag.

Q1: Is mint authority revoked?
Check: Solscan → Token Info → Mint Authority = "None"
If No: the creator can inflate supply at will. Treat as critical risk unless there is a specific, verifiable technical reason for retention.

Q2: Is freeze authority revoked?
Check: Solscan → Token Info → Freeze Authority = "None"
If No: the creator can lock your wallet. Unless this is a regulated stablecoin with stated compliance obligations, treat as critical risk.

Q3: Are Token-2022 extensions safe?
Check: is the token a Token-2022 token? If so, which extensions are active? Transfer hook without verified documentation, and permanent delegation are both high-risk flags.
If unclear: run through Hannisol — Token-2022 extension risks are automatically flagged.

Q4: Is liquidity locked, for how long, and at what percentage?
Check: RugCheck.xyz or Streamflow dashboard for lock status, expiration date, and percentage of total LP tokens locked.
Acceptable: 90%+ locked for 6+ months. Concerning: under 50% locked or under 30 days remaining.

Q5: Does the token pass RugCheck?
Check: rugcheck.xyz — run the token and review each specific warning flag, not just the overall rating.
If it shows multiple high-severity warnings: treat as high risk regardless of marketing claims.

Q6: Does Hannisol's Pump-Dump Risk score exceed 70?
Check: hannisol.com — search the token and check the Pump-Dump Risk dimension score.
If above 70: the token exhibits multiple simultaneous scam-pattern signals. Strong reason to avoid or treat as maximum-risk speculation only.

Q7: Does Hannisol's Exit Ability score indicate tradeable liquidity?
Check: hannisol.com → Exit Ability score — is there sufficient liquidity to exit your intended position size without >10% slippage?
If No: either reduce position size significantly or reconsider the trade entirely.

Phase 2 — Token economics (Questions 8–12)

These questions evaluate whether the token's economic structure is designed to benefit holders or extract value from them over time.

Q8: What is the current circulating supply as a percentage of max supply?
Check: Hannisol or CoinGecko if listed — circulating / max supply.
If under 20%: 80%+ of supply hasn't hit the market yet. High dilution risk from vesting unlocks. Check the vesting schedule before buying.

Q9: Are there any major vesting unlocks in the next 90 days?
Check: project tokenomics documentation, Streamflow or Unvest for on-chain vesting contracts.
If Yes: a large supply unlock will increase sell pressure. Factor into your time horizon and position sizing.

Q10: What is the FDV relative to the current market cap?
Check: FDV = current price × max supply. Compare to circulating market cap.
If FDV is more than 10× the circulating market cap: aggressive dilution is coming. Require a strong fundamental case before accepting this risk.

Q11: Is the top-10 holder concentration below 50% (excluding LP)?
Check: Solscan → Holders tab. Identify and exclude the liquidity pool wallet. Sum the percentages of the remaining top 10.
If above 50%: coordinated selling by a small number of insiders can crater price at any time.

Q12: Are the top holder wallets independent (different funding sources)?
Check: trace the origin wallets for the top 5–10 holders on Solscan. Do their initial SOL come from different sources, or all from the same CEX withdrawal / parent wallet?
If related: the apparent distribution is false. Treat concentration as 100% insider-controlled.

Phase 3 — Project legitimacy (Questions 13–17)

These questions evaluate whether the project behind the token has genuine intent and verifiable presence.

Q13: How old is the project's domain?
Check: Hannisol's domain intelligence (RDAP-based), or manually via any WHOIS tool.
If under 2 weeks old: the project was assembled rapidly. Combined with other flags, this strongly suggests a short-term extraction operation.

Q14: Does the deployer wallet have a credible transaction history?
Check: Solscan — the wallet that deployed the token. Age, prior transactions, prior token deployments, any association with known rugpulls.
If brand new wallet with no history: this wallet was created for this launch and may be disposable.

Q15: Has Hannisol flagged the domain as associated with prior token projects?
Check: Hannisol's WHOIS/domain intelligence section of the token analysis.
If Yes, and prior projects had negative outcomes: this is a serial rugger pattern. Maximum risk.

Q16: Is the team's communication substantive and responsive?
Check: join the Telegram/Discord. Ask a technical question about mint authority, freeze authority, or the audit. Observe the response.
If deleted, banned, or answered with generic positivity: the team is not interested in informed discussion. Red flag.

Q17: Can you find any independent third-party coverage of this project?
Check: beyond the project's own channels, is there any third-party analysis, journalism, or community discussion of this token that isn't promotional?
If only promotional content exists: you cannot verify any claims independently. Factor this uncertainty into your position sizing.

Phase 4 — Trade setup (Questions 18–20)

These questions are about the mechanics of the specific trade you're about to make — not the token's safety, but your execution plan.

Q18: Have you defined your profit target, stop-loss, and time limit?
Action: write down your entry price, profit target price, stop-loss price, and the date by which you'll exit if neither target is hit.
If not yet defined: do this before executing. Do not enter the trade without all three defined.

Q19: Is your position size within your defined risk tier allocation?
Action: check the token's Hannisol risk tier. Confirm your intended position is within the maximum allocation for that tier (see position sizing guide).
If over the limit: reduce position size. Don't increase the tier limit because you're excited about this particular token.

Q20: Have you waited at least 30 minutes since first seeing this token?
Action: check when you first encountered this token. Has 30 minutes elapsed?
If not: set a timer. Use the waiting time to complete questions 1–19. If the thesis still holds after 30 minutes of due diligence, execute the trade.

Scoring your checklist

The most powerful version of this checklist is the one you actually use — consistently, without exceptions, on every token you consider. The discipline is more valuable than any individual piece of information it surfaces, because it operates regardless of how strong your FOMO is in the moment.

Hannisol answers questions 1–7 and 13–15 automatically for any Solana token in under 10 seconds. Start your checklist at Hannisol.