What is the Rug and Scam Rate Index?

It is a live index that measures what share of recently launched tokens are flagged with a critical safety red flag, namely a honeypot, a potential scam, or a blacklist, in the DEXTools automated audit. It is sampled across major chains and refreshes roughly every 90 minutes.

What percent of new crypto tokens are scams?

It varies by day and by chain. The live figure at the top of this page shows the current share of recently launched, audited tokens that carry a honeypot, potential scam, or blacklist flag. Use the per-chain breakdown to see where flagged tokens are concentrated right now.

Why does the index use tokens from the past 30 days, not the last 24 hours?

Brand new tokens are not audited the moment they launch, so the freshest tokens have no safety data. Sampling tokens launched in the past 30 days gives the audit time to run while keeping the sample recent and meaningful.

Does a low score mean a token is safe?

No. The index is a market-wide base rate, not a verdict on any single token. Always check the exact contract you plan to buy with the DEXTools Token Safety Checker, and remember that a clean automated audit reduces risk but never guarantees safety.

What is a honeypot token?

A honeypot is a token whose contract lets you buy but blocks you from selling. It is the clearest trap because your funds are locked the instant you enter. Honeypots are one of the red flags counted by this index.

Rug & Scam Rate Index: What Percent of New Tokens Are Scams (Live)

June 21, 2026 — By Tony Rabbit in Tutorials

The Rug and Scam Rate Index tracks, live, what share of recently launched tokens are flagged as honeypots, potential scams or blacklisted by the DEXTools audit. See the current rate, the breakdown by chain, and how to check any token before you buy.

How risky is the average new token? The Rug and Scam Rate Index answers that with live, on-chain data. It samples tokens launched recently and measures what share carry a critical safety red flag in the DEXTools automated audit: a honeypot, a potential scam flag, or a blacklist. The figure above updates automatically.

What counts as a red flag

A token is counted as flagged if the DEXTools audit marks it with any of these:

Honeypot: you can buy the token but the contract blocks you from selling. This is the clearest trap, because your money is stuck the moment you enter.
Potentially scam: the contract has patterns the audit associates with scams, such as hidden mint or transfer restrictions.
Blacklisted: the contract can block specific wallets from trading, which can be used to freeze buyers out.

The index also reports two softer risk signals that are not counted as scams on their own but are worth watching: the share of tokens that can still be minted (the supply can be inflated) and the share where ownership has not been renounced (the deployer keeps control of the contract).

Why we sample tokens from the past 30 days

Brand new tokens are not audited the instant they launch, so the very freshest tokens have no safety data yet. To produce a meaningful rate, the index samples tokens launched in the past 30 days across major chains, which gives the audit time to run while keeping the sample genuinely recent. The result is a market-wide snapshot, not a ranking designed to favor any chain.

How to use it

The headline number tells you the base rate of danger when you touch a random new token. If it sits in the double digits, treat every unproven launch as guilty until verified. The per-chain breakdown shows where flagged tokens cluster right now.

Before buying any specific token, do not rely on a market average. Run the exact contract through the DEXTools Token Safety Checker to see its own honeypot, mint and ownership status, and check the New Token Risk Index to see how many fresh tokens launch with negligible liquidity. You can also watch raw launch volume on the New Token Tracker. For the manual checklist, see our guide on how to spot a rug pull.

Methodology

For each major chain, the index pulls the most recently created pools in the trailing 7 to 30 day window from DEXTools pair data, then queries the automated audit for each token. Tokens without audit data are excluded from the denominator, so the rate reflects only tokens the audit has actually assessed. The red flag rate is the share of assessed tokens marked honeypot, potentially scam, or blacklisted. Figures refresh roughly every 90 minutes and will move as the market does.

A clean audit is not a guarantee of safety, and ownership not being renounced is a risk signal rather than proof of a scam. This page is for information only and is not financial advice.