Locked liquidity: what it protects against, and what it does not

Locked liquidity means the pool cannot be withdrawn by whoever created it. It is the single clearest defence against a rug pull, and it is routinely misread as a guarantee of safety.

What does locked liquidity mean?

When someone creates a trading pool they receive LP tokens representing their share of it. Holding those tokens lets them withdraw the pool. Locking means those LP tokens are placed in a contract that prevents withdrawal until a set date — or burned outright, which removes the possibility permanently.

Unlocked liquidity means the person who created the pool can remove it at any moment, leaving holders with a token that has nothing to trade against.

Why it matters

This is the mechanism behind most rug pulls. Not a hack, not a complicated exploit — the deployer withdraws the pool, the price goes to effectively zero, and anyone still holding cannot sell at any price because there is no longer a market to sell into.

It is the one risk on this list where the outcome is total rather than gradual. Thin depth costs you slippage. An unlocked pool that gets pulled costs you the position.

What a lock does not tell you: whether the token has any value, whether the team will keep working on it, or what happens when the lock expires. A six-month lock is a six-month promise, not a permanent one, and locks expiring is a normal event that holders routinely fail to anticipate.

How scalper.news scores it

This is the actual curve used to score liquidity lock on every token page and in the risk tool. Scores run 0 to 100, where higher means more risk.

How to check it yourself

• On Solana, RugCheck reports the locked percentage directly. On EVM chains, GoPlus and similar services report LP holder addresses and whether they are locking contracts.
• Look at the percentage, not the yes/no. A pool that is 40% locked is 60% withdrawable, and that 60% is enough to make the remainder unsellable.
• Check the unlock date where one exists. A lock expiring next week is close to no lock at all.

Nothing here is financial advice. A low score means the measurable indicators look unremarkable; it does not mean a token is safe. See how this site works.