Insider wallets are addresses that look independent on a holder list but are really controlled by the same person or group, usually the team behind the coin. They matter because a coin with "500 holders" might really have 450 ordinary buyers and one insider group holding a big chunk of supply across 50 wallets. When that group sells, it sells as one.
Why one person uses many wallets
On Solana a new wallet costs nothing to create. Splitting tokens across lots of wallets has several uses for someone who wants to sell into buyers later:
- Hiding concentration. One wallet with 30% of supply scares people off. Thirty wallets with 1% each look like a healthy spread.
- Inflating holder counts. More holders makes a coin look more popular and can help it appear in trending lists.
- Avoiding filters. Many tools flag a single large holder. Fewer tools join up wallets that look separate.
- Selling quietly. Small sales from many wallets attract less attention than one huge sale.
A bundled launch is one common way insider wallets get their tokens, but insiders can also be early buyers who were tipped off, or wallets topped up after launch.
How wallets get linked
No wallet carries a name tag. Links are worked out from behaviour on-chain. The main clues are:
Shared funding
Every new wallet needs a little SOL to pay fees. If 30 wallets all received their first SOL from the same address, or from one address in quick succession, they are very likely run by the same person.
Token transfers between them
Wallets that pass the coin to each other, or send it back to one collecting wallet, are linked.
Timing
Wallets that buy in the same block, or sell within seconds of each other, are behaving like one trader.
Matching behaviour
Same buy sizes, same moment of creation, same pattern of activity on other coins.
RugCheck builds what it calls an insider graph: a map of wallets connected through funding and transfers. Its token report includes a count of insider wallets detected in that graph. That count is what we use.
How we score insiders
| RugCheck insider count | Points added to the score |
|---|---|
| 20 or more linked wallets | 3 |
| 10 to 19 linked wallets | 2 |
| Under 10 | 0 |
These points only count when the linked wallets make up at least 3% of holders, or when the coin has fewer than 300 holders.
Three points alone takes a coin to a D. Insider wallets often come with other signs, such as a large single holder or same-size bags, which push the grade further down.
We also look separately at the largest single holder and the share held by the top 10 holders, with pools, lockers and market accounts removed. Insiders spread across many wallets can slip under those holder limits, which is exactly why the linked-wallet count matters.
Key point: When you see linked wallets, add their holdings together and treat them as one holder. That number is the real concentration risk.
Reading the number sensibly
The insider count is most useful on new coins. On a coin that is a few hours old, 20 linked wallets among the holders is a strong sign that a group set up its position at launch.
On large, older coins the count can be much higher, sometimes in the thousands, simply because so many wallets have traded with each other through exchanges and shared services over months. A high number on a long-established coin does not carry the same meaning as the same number on a coin launched this morning. Our grade allows for that: linked wallets only add points when they make up at least 3% of holders, or when the coin has fewer than 300 holders. Even so, look at the details before drawing conclusions about any coin.
What the insider graph cannot see
Linking wallets is detective work, and a careful group can make it hard.
- Clean funding. Wallets funded from different exchange accounts, or through a mixer or bridge, may show no shared source at all.
- Patience. Wallets set up weeks in advance with a bit of normal-looking activity look like real traders.
- Different sizes and timing. Buying random amounts at random times breaks the obvious patterns.
- Off-chain agreements. A group of friends who agree in a private chat to buy early and sell together use their own separate wallets. No on-chain tool can link them, because nothing on-chain connects them.
So a low insider count means no obvious links were found. It does not prove that the holders are independent. Our guide on coins that pass every check and still rug covers this in more detail.
How to check insiders yourself
- Open the coin on RugCheck and look at the insider section and holder list.
- Pick a few of the larger holders (not the pool) and open them on Solscan.
- Look at each wallet's first incoming transaction. Where did its SOL come from?
- Note the age of each wallet and whether it holds anything else.
- If several lead back to the same source, add up their share of supply.
You do not need to trace every wallet. Checking four or five of the biggest holders often tells you enough.
Common innocent explanations
Not every link means bad intent. A few situations produce linked wallets for ordinary reasons:
- Many people withdraw from the same big exchange, so a shared exchange address is a weak link on its own.
- Trading bots and apps sometimes route funds through shared accounts.
- A project might genuinely hold tokens in several wallets for a marketing fund or team allocation, and say so publicly.
That is why we weight the insider count at 2 or 3 points rather than treating it as proof of anything. It is a reason to look closer, not a verdict.
Related
- What is a bundled launch, and how to spot one
- Can a coin that passes every check still rug?
- What our A to F grades mean
- Wallet safety basics