Data covers PancakeSwap (BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum), Uniswap (Ethereum, Base and Polygon), and SushiSwap (Ethereum, Base and Polygon), all pool versions. Week 42 = week ending Sunday, October 18, 2026.
Week 42 saw $43,361,595 extracted from retail investors – down 34.9% from Week 41’s $66,565,295 (restated) and ending a four-week run in which every week had been at or above $62.3M. Rug pull events fell 26.1% to 10,069, the lowest count since Week 32, and new pool mints fell 28.3% to 13,576. The running total since 2026 tracking began crossed $1.25 billion this week and now stands at $1,286,406,839.
Week 42 Key Numbers
Week 42 Analysis
The Four-Week Run Above $62M Comes to an End
Weeks 38 to 41 each extracted at least $62.3M, averaging $66.7M a week. Week 42’s $43.4M is 35.0% below that average and the largest weekly decline since Week 37 (-40.9%). It is still the ninth-highest week of 2026 out of 42 reported, and well above the $26.4M average of Weeks 1 to 37, so the pullback returns extraction to the range of Weeks 34 and 35 rather than to early-year levels.
Events Fall to Their Lowest Count Since Week 32
Rug pull events fell 26.1% to 10,069 while fraud value fell 34.9%, so the average extraction per event dropped 11.9% to $4,306 from Week 41’s $4,888. That is still the sixth-highest weekly average of 2026. The decline was driven by both fewer events and smaller ones: creators added $89.8M (-32.5%) and removed $133.2M (-33.3%), both about a third below the prior week.
Tracked Pools and New Mints Contract Together
Total pools tracked fell 22.2% to 81,947, the second consecutive decline after Week 40’s 2026 high of 141,612, and ended a run of six consecutive weeks above 90,000 (Weeks 36 to 41). New pool mints fell 28.3% to 13,576, the lowest since Week 31, so for the first time in several weeks the two series moved in the same direction.
Removed-to-Added Ratio Falls for a Third Straight Week
Creators removed $1.48 for every $1.00 they seeded in Week 42 (1.483x), down from 1.500x in Week 41, 1.523x in Week 40 and the 2026 peak of 1.554x in Week 39. It is the lowest ratio since Week 35 (1.472x). The rug-to-mint ratio rose to 74.2% from 71.9%; in every week from Week 34 to Week 42, between 71% and 77% of new pool mints have ended in a confirmed rug pull.
Week-on-Week Comparison: W40 – W42
| Metric | W40 | W41 | W42 | W42 vs W41 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fraud extracted | $62,326,300 | $66,565,295 | $43,361,595 | -34.9% |
| Rug events | 13,910 | 13,617 | 10,069 | -26.1% |
| Total pools | 141,612 | 105,319 | 81,947 | -22.2% |
| New mints | 19,061 | 18,944 | 13,576 | -28.3% |
| Added by creators | $119,258,742 | $133,074,355 | $89,798,598 | -32.5% |
| Removed by creators | $181,585,041 | $199,639,650 | $133,160,193 | -33.3% |
| Removed-to-added ratio | 1.523x | 1.500x | 1.483x | -1.1% |
| Average extraction per event | $4,481 | $4,888 | $4,306 | -11.9% |
2026 Running Total – W36 to W42
| Week | Fraud Extracted | Rug Events | Running Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| W36 | $61,996,934 | 13,893 | $939,746,546 |
| W37 | $36,627,762 | 16,523 | $976,374,308 |
| W38 | $70,688,687 | 12,556 | $1,047,062,995 |
| W39 | $67,090,654 | 14,278 | $1,114,153,649 |
| W40 | $62,326,300 | 13,910 | $1,176,479,949 |
| W41 | $66,565,295 | 13,617 | $1,243,045,244 |
| W42 | $43,361,595 | 10,069 | $1,286,406,839 |
Note on expanded coverage and restated figures: earlier weekly reports covered PancakeSwap on BNB Smart Chain and Uniswap on Ethereum. The tracker now also covers PancakeSwap on Ethereum, Uniswap on Base and Polygon, and SushiSwap on Ethereum, Base and Polygon (all pool versions), and the added coverage continues to be imported back across earlier weeks. Every weekly figure in this article therefore reflects the expanded scope and may be slightly higher than originally reported for the same week. Running totals are recalculated by summing every weekly value since 2026-W01 on this basis. For example, our Week 41 report showed 13,606 events, $66,565,290 of fraud and a running total of $1,242,969,075; on current data Week 41 stands at 13,617 events, $66,565,295 and $1,243,045,244. All figures use the corrected USD-only extraction methodology adopted 2026-08-05.
About This Tracker
ChainAware.ai’s weekly rug pull tracker monitors liquidity removal fraud across PancakeSwap on BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum, and Uniswap and SushiSwap on Ethereum, Base and Polygon, covering all pool versions. Rug pull fraud is defined as the USD-equivalent value of liquidity removed by the pool creator that exceeds the USD-equivalent value of liquidity added by the creator – a net extraction event, measured in USD-side value only. The tracker uses ChainAware’s predictive rug pull detection engine, which achieves 90.1% detection accuracy in V3 – see the full Rug Pull Detector methodology for how the model scores deployer wallets and liquidity events.