The Field Guide
Out in the trenches you'll see the same kinds of coin again and again. Each entry says how to spot one on the chain, how it tends to behave, and what to check before you trust it. Every specimen links to its page in the trenchbook. This describes how coins work, not which ones to buy.
The one-night launch
How to spot it
- The creator wallet was funded minutes before launch, often from an exchange or on-ramp.
- The creator buys a slice of the supply in the same transaction that creates the coin.
- A few other fresh wallets buy in just before the volume arrives.
How it behaves
The creator sells within hours, and the money moves on: to an exchange, a casino, or the next launch. The wallets rarely get used again, until one of them funds the next coin.
What to check
Who funded the creator, and when. How much the creator bought at launch, and whether it still holds it.
Specimens
The fee engine
How to spot it
- The coin's creator fees are routed to a wallet that keeps buying the coin, or funding new wallets that buy it.
- The holder count climbs with every trade, because the engine creates holders.
How it behaves
Holder counts and buy pressure look organic but are built in. What matters is who holds the keys to the wallets the engine creates, and where their tokens end up.
What to check
Where each fee claim goes, and whether the engine's wallets ever send their tokens to a wallet that sells. A dashboard that says every move is listed is a claim, not a receipt.
Specimens
The reward-tax coin
How to spot it
- A tax on every transfer, usually 1% or 3%, withheld in the coin itself.
- A platform wallet collects the tax and sells it; holders are paid in whatever the coin is paired with.
How it behaves
The collector sells what it collects, so the tax is a steady drain on the pool that holder payouts are meant to make up for. Payouts shrink when volume does.
What to check
Who collects the tax, whether everything collected reaches holders, and how big the tax sells are next to the pool.
Specimens
The stack
How to spot it
- Coins paired with other coins instead of SOL: one layer built on another.
- Buying the top layer means buying every layer beneath it first.
How it behaves
On the way up, every buy pushes money down into the base. On the way down, every sale unwinds through the middle, and the middle layer falls hardest.
What to check
What each layer is paired with, and how thin the pools between the layers are.
Specimens
The king and its derivatives
How to spot it
- One coin big enough that others launch on its theme: babies, spin-offs, crossovers.
- Clones reuse its exact ticker, some showing big market caps on pools with almost no money in them.
How it behaves
Derivatives often run while the king is expensive, and usually fade faster. The ticker gets crowded, so the wrong coin is easy to buy.
What to check
The mint address, not the ticker. Pool liquidity next to market cap.
Specimens
The platform token
How to spot it
- A launchpad or app's own coin, fed by the platform's revenue through buybacks or burns.
How it behaves
It trades on the platform's fortunes: revenue, volume, and every allegation about the platform lands on it.
What to check
The platform's published revenue split against what the chain shows it actually bought and burned.
Specimens
The story coin
How to spot it
- Launched off a headline, a fight or a protest, often within hours of the news.
How it behaves
It lives as long as the story does. Many give back nearly everything once attention moves on.
What to check
Who launched it and what they hold, and whether anything ties the coin to the people in the story.
Specimens
The lure
How to spot it
- A "vote", "airdrop", "points checker" or "listing" for holders of a trending coin, posted by accounts that may be hacked, paid or fooled.
- It asks you to connect a wallet and sign.
How it behaves
It's not a coin. It rides whatever coin is trending, and it drains the wallets that sign. An approval keeps working after you close the page.
What to check
Nothing: don't connect. If you did, move what's left to a new wallet and revoke approvals you don't recognise.
See
Trenchbook it before you ape.