$220 Million in Token Unlocks This Week Could Destroy Your Memecoin Holdings

My portfolio was up 34% Monday morning. By Tuesday at 2 AM, I was down 18% watching a token I thought was solid just crater because someone on Twitter posted a chart showing a major unlock was incoming.

I had no idea. Most retail traders don’t.

This week alone, over $220 million worth of locked tokens are hitting the market. TON, LayerZero, Plasma, Soon. All dumping fresh supply into circulation. And while everyone’s focusing on the big projects, almost nobody’s talking about what this means for the memecoin ecosystem sitting below them, which runs on the same liquidity pools and same trader psychology.

Welcome to unlock hell week.

The Supply Shock Nobody’s Ready For

Here’s what happens when tokens unlock. A project’s team, investors, or ecosystem participants suddenly have access to millions in tokens they’ve been waiting to sell. Imagine being locked out of $10 million for a year and then it hits your wallet. You’re selling.

The impact isn’t just on the specific token unlocking. It’s systemic. When LayerZero dumps $42.68 million on October 20, that creates selling pressure. Traders see the unlock coming, they front-run it. Exchanges get flooded with sell orders. Funding rates swing negative across the entire alt market as leveraged longs get liquidated.

Memecoins, which sit at the bottom of the liquidity food chain, get hit hardest. They’re illiquid by design. When capital dries up on bigger projects, it completely evaporates from smaller ones. A 5% move on TON means a 25% move on your Shiba alternative.

Which Unlocks Actually Matter

TON’s $80 million unlock on October 23 is the heavyweight. It represents about 1.45% of its float, but TON has ecosystem backing. It might absorb the hit. LayerZero at $42.68 million on October 20 is trickier because 7.86% of its circulating supply is hitting the market in one day. That’s actual liquidation pressure.

Then there’s Plasma at $36.27 million on October 25. Most traders have never heard of it. But Plasma is a Layer 1 that processes stablecoins. Ecosystem tokens like this often dump harder because retail never accumulates them in the first place. Soon at $14.22 million seems smaller but it’s community incentives unlocking. Community tokens always dump on unlock schedules.

The ripple effect is invisible until it happens. LayerZero’s volume spikes. Traders panic. Capital rotates from “risk-on” alts back to Bitcoin. Memecoins that were riding momentum suddenly have zero buyers.

The Pattern That Never Fails

This is actually predictable if you know what to look for. Three days before a major unlock, trading volume on smaller alts starts drying up. Funding rates on leverage positions go negative. Smart money quietly moves positions into stablecoins. Then the unlock hits and retail gets caught holding the bag.

But here’s the thing: history shows 70% of major unlocks are followed by rallies within 4 to 8 weeks. The selling pressure is temporary. If you have capital ready when everyone’s panicking, you’re catching the actual dip, not the fake one.

The traders winning right now are the ones positioned before unlock hell week starts. They know volatility is coming. They know memecoins will get hit. But they also know that short-term panic creates longer-term opportunity.

Playing It Smart

Don’t hold through unlocks. Seriously. If you’re sitting on memecoin positions and you know LayerZero or TON are unlocking this week, the smart move is to take profit early. Unlock volatility is not the time to be greedy.

But position yourself to buy the dip. Have capital ready. When memecoins dump 20–30% during the panic, that’s when you accumulate before the recovery. The traders with conviction and dry powder are the ones making generational wealth during these events.

The other play is understanding that new unlocked tokens need volume to settle. This is exactly where a properly executed volume strategy becomes valuable. Projects that can absorb unlock pressure with sustainable trading activity emerge stronger.

Building Projects That Survive Unlocks

If you’re launching your own memecoin, unlock pressure is something you need to plan for. The projects that don’t die when selling pressure hits are the ones with proper infrastructure from day one. They have volume mechanisms built in. They understand tokenomics aren’t just about the number, they’re about the velocity and the mechanics supporting it.

Rocket Suite handles this reality. Deploy tokens on Ethereum and Base with professional infrastructure built to handle market stress. The volume bot tools work across BNB Chain, Solana, Plasma, Base, Ethereum, and XRP to maintain DexScreener and DexTools ranking even when unlock dumps are happening.

It’s not magic. It’s just being prepared while other projects panic.

The Bottom Line

This week’s $220 million in unlocks will destroy some portfolios and create opportunities for others. Memecoins will get hit first and hit hardest because they’re illiquid and dependent on rotational capital flows.

The winners aren’t the ones holding through the chaos. They’re the ones who saw it coming, stayed safe, and positioned aggressively when everyone else was panicking.

Watch the unlock calendar. Prepare your exits. Have your capital ready. October unlock week is less of a threat and more of a timed opportunity if you actually understand the pattern.

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$220 Million in Token Unlocks This Week Could Destroy Your Memecoin Holdings was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.