Crypto markets can move fast, but not every trending token deserves a place in your portfolio right now. Some coins may look exciting on the surface, but carry near-term risks such as fresh exploit incidents, large upcoming token unlocks, or the uncertainty both leave behind.
This list does not mean these projects have no future. It simply means the risk-reward setup looks weak for October 2026, especially for retail investors who may not be tracking security incidents or unlock calendars closely.
| Token | Core Theme | Why Avoid It in October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Saga (SAGA) | App-chain / Layer-1 infrastructure | Near historical lows, extreme price deterioration and another investor/contributor unlock on October 9 |
| MemeCore (M) | Meme-focused Layer 1 | High valuation relative to liquidity, large uncirculated supply and fresh October token unlock pressure |
| EigenCloud (EIGEN) | Restaking / verifiable cloud | Continued supply expansion, an October 31 unlock and unclear token value capture despite strong underlying technology |
| GoPlus Security (GPS) | Web3 security infrastructure | Weak price momentum, declining liquidity and substantial remaining token supply |
| Puffer (PUFFER) | Ethereum restaking | Small market cap, weakening trading activity and continued vesting pressure |
Saga is a Layer-1 protocol designed to let developers launch dedicated application chains called Chainlets, giving individual applications their own execution environment while sharing Saga’s validator security model.
SAGA is one of the clearest tokens to avoid in October because its token structure is adding fresh selling pressure to an already severely weakened market.
The token trades around $0.023, down roughly 99% from its historical high near $7.60. Its market capitalization has fallen below $10 million, while price action remains highly unstable. SAGA briefly traded around $0.074 in late September before falling back toward $0.02 entering October.
More importantly, approximately 16.67 million SAGA are scheduled to unlock on October 9, split between private investors and insiders. The release represents roughly 3% of the token’s current market capitalization, and additional monthly unlocks are scheduled to continue.
That creates a poor October setup: SAGA is already close to historical lows, liquidity is limited, and new investor and contributor supply is still entering the market. Even if Saga’s underlying Chainlet infrastructure continues developing, there is little reason for investors to take the additional token-specific dilution risk this month.
ALTERNATIVE: Investors looking for Layer-1 exposure have stronger alternatives such as Solana (SOL), which offers substantially deeper liquidity, a much larger active application ecosystem and less dependence on a small-cap token recovering from prolonged selling pressure.
MemeCore is a Layer-1 blockchain built specifically around the memecoin economy. Its M token is used for gas, staking, validator participation, governance and the network’s Proof of Meme incentive system.
M is worth avoiding in October because its current valuation looks difficult to reconcile with both its liquidity and its remaining token supply.
The token trades around $1.04 with a market capitalization near $2.4 billion, yet recent daily spot volume has sometimes been only around $1–2 million. That is an unusually large gap between headline valuation and liquid trading activity.
Supply creates another problem. MemeCore has a 10 billion-token maximum supply, but only around 2.28 billion M, or roughly 23%, is currently circulating. This means most of the eventual token supply is still outside the market.
October has already introduced fresh dilution. Around 56.11 million M unlocked on October 2, equivalent to roughly 2.5% of circulating supply, with allocations going to the community, investors, foundation and team. Further scheduled releases remain ahead.
Price momentum is weakening as well. M fell from around $1.51 in the second half of September toward approximately $1 entering October. With a multi-billion-dollar valuation, thin liquidity and significant future supply, the risk/reward is difficult to justify this month.
ALTERNATIVE: For investors who specifically want memecoin exposure, Dogecoin (DOGE) is a more established alternative with considerably deeper liquidity, broader exchange support and a much longer market history without MemeCore’s early-stage unlock profile.
EIGEN is the native token associated with EigenCloud, the infrastructure ecosystem that grew out of EigenLayer’s Ethereum restaking model. EigenCloud allows Ethereum’s economic security to support additional services, networks and verifiable computation.
EIGEN should be avoided in October because its token continues to face supply pressure while the connection between growth of the underlying EigenCloud ecosystem and demand for EIGEN remains difficult to quantify.
The token trades around $0.26, far below previous levels despite continued development of EigenCloud. That weak price response is particularly important because another significant supply event arrives this month.
Approximately 36.82 million EIGEN are scheduled to unlock on October 31 for investors and early contributors. That represents roughly 4% of circulating supply at current levels and adds to an already continuing vesting schedule.
EIGEN also does not have a hard maximum supply. Programmatic emissions can add additional tokens alongside investor and contributor releases.
The larger issue is value capture. EigenCloud could become important Ethereum infrastructure without growth in restaking, verifiable services or cloud applications necessarily creating equivalent buying pressure for EIGEN. That makes the token considerably harder to value than the underlying technology.
ALTERNATIVE: Investors seeking exposure to the same broader Ethereum infrastructure and security ecosystem can instead consider Ethereum (ETH) itself. ETH provides direct exposure to the base network securing the ecosystem, has far deeper liquidity and avoids the additional unlock and token-value-capture risks attached to EIGEN.
GoPlus Security provides blockchain security infrastructure designed to detect malicious contracts, risky tokens, phishing attempts and other on-chain threats. GPS is the native token associated with the GoPlus ecosystem.
GPS is a token to avoid in October because neither its recent price action nor its token structure currently provides a compelling reason to take the risk.
GPS trades near $0.01, compared with a historical high above $0.20. The decline itself does not automatically make the token cheap; instead, it shows that demand has struggled to keep pace with supply and ecosystem expectations.
Around 5.9 billion of the 10 billion GPS supply is currently circulating, meaning more than 40% remains outside the market. That leaves investors exposed to further dilution as additional tokens are released.
Liquidity has also weakened. GPS briefly recovered toward $0.012–$0.013 in late September before slipping back toward $0.01 entering October, while trading volumes declined alongside the move.
GoPlus may address a genuine problem—on-chain security—but a useful product does not necessarily make its native token an attractive investment. Until stronger evidence emerges that adoption of GoPlus directly creates durable demand for GPS, the combination of weak momentum and remaining token supply makes it avoidable in October.
ALTERNATIVE: For investors looking for established blockchain infrastructure exposure, Chainlink (LINK) is a stronger alternative. It operates in oracle and interoperability infrastructure rather than security scanning, but has substantially deeper liquidity, broader integrations and more mature token demand than GPS.
Puffer is an Ethereum infrastructure ecosystem built around liquid restaking, native restaking and the UniFi stack. PUFFER serves as the governance token and can also be locked as vlPUFFER for participation in governance and ecosystem rewards.
PUFFER should be avoided in October because its token is struggling to generate sustained market demand while additional supply continues to enter circulation.
The token trades around $0.026 with a market capitalization of only about $14 million. More concerning is the decline in trading activity. Daily volume dropped below $1 million in early October after briefly exceeding $25 million during a September spike.
That pattern suggests the previous rally failed to establish sustained liquidity or investor interest.
Supply remains another concern. Only around 55% of total PUFFER supply has been unlocked, leaving a substantial amount still subject to vesting. Continued releases can weigh on the token when organic demand and trading liquidity are already weak.
PUFFER did rally from approximately $0.02 to $0.03 during September, but it was unable to maintain that momentum. For a small-cap token with continuing vesting and declining liquidity, the downside risk currently outweighs the case for trying to catch a recovery.
Investors interested in Ethereum staking exposure have more established alternatives. Lido DAO (LDO) offers exposure to the largest liquid-staking ecosystem, while ETH itself is the cleaner option for investors who want Ethereum staking exposure without taking on another small-cap governance token and its associated vesting risk.
SAGA, M, EIGEN, GPS and PUFFER are among the cryptocurrencies to avoid in October 2026. These tokens currently face combinations of token unlocks, supply dilution, weak liquidity, declining price momentum or unclear token value capture that make their near-term risk/reward unattractive.
SAGA and EIGEN have particularly important unlocks in October 2026. SAGA has approximately 16.67 million tokens scheduled to unlock on October 9, while around 36.82 million EIGEN are expected to unlock for investors and early contributors on October 31.
Large token unlocks increase the amount of cryptocurrency available to trade. If newly unlocked tokens enter the market faster than new demand appears, they can create selling pressure and dilute existing holders. Unlock risk can be especially important for small-cap tokens with limited liquidity.
Investors looking for alternatives can consider SOL instead of SAGA for Layer-1 exposure, DOGE instead of M for established memecoin exposure, ETH instead of EIGEN for Ethereum infrastructure exposure, LINK instead of GPS for mature blockchain infrastructure, and LDO or ETH instead of PUFFER for Ethereum staking exposure. These assets still carry crypto-market risk, but avoid some of the token-specific issues affecting the five tokens listed above in October 2026.
