LP Burning vs Locking on Solana: What Each One Actually Does

There are two different on-chain actions behind the phrase "burning LP tokens", and they are routinely confused because Raydium named one of them Burn & Earn. Burning destroys the LP tokens and reduces the LP mint's supply. Burn & Earn destroys nothing: it moves the position into Raydium's lock program and mints you a Fee Key NFT so the trading fees stay claimable. Both make the liquidity permanently unwithdrawable. They differ in what happens to your fees and which pool types they cover — this guide explains both, and the burn LP tokens page runs them.

What Are LP Tokens?

LP (Liquidity Provider) tokens are receipts you receive when you deposit tokens into a liquidity pool. They represent your share of the pool and can be used to:

• Redeem your liquidity — Withdraw your deposited tokens + SOL
• Prove ownership — Show your share of the pool
• Burn or lock — Make your liquidity permanently unwithdrawable, either by destroying the LP tokens or by locking the position

When you create a Raydium liquidity pool and deposit tokens + SOL, you receive LP tokens proportional to your deposit. These LP tokens are the key to controlling your liquidity.

Why Burn LP Tokens?

Burning LP tokens is the strongest trust signal in the Solana token ecosystem. Here is why it matters:

1. Prevents Rug Pulls

If LP tokens exist, the holder can remove all liquidity from the pool at any time — draining the SOL and leaving holders with worthless tokens. Burning LP tokens makes this impossible.

2. DexScreener Trust Badge

DexScreener displays LP burn status prominently. Tokens with burned LP show a trust badge that experienced traders check before buying. Learn more about DexScreener.

3. RugCheck Score

RugCheck.xyz gives a significantly higher safety score to tokens with burned LP. Many traders will not buy tokens that fail RugCheck's liquidity checks.

4. Community Confidence

Burning LP is a public commitment. It tells your community: "The liquidity is here to stay. I cannot and will not remove it."

Path 1: Burning LP Tokens Outright

This is the literal reading of "burn LP tokens": an SPL burn instruction against the LP mint. The tokens cease to exist, the LP mint's supply drops by that amount, and the share of the pool they represented can never be redeemed by anyone. Because an LP token is an ordinary SPL token, this works on any Raydium LP — CPMM and AMM V4 alike.

The token burner groups Raydium LP mints under its own LP tab, so you are not hunting for an address among your other tokens.

Step 1: Open the Token Burner

Go to SolTokenCreator.io/solana-token-burner, connect the wallet holding the LP tokens, and switch to the LP tab.

Step 2: Select Your LP Position

The LP tab lists the Raydium LP tokens the wallet holds. Select the one you want to burn. You will see:

• The LP mint and its balance
• The amount queued for burning, which you set yourself

Step 3: Set the Amount and Approve

Set how much of the balance to burn — all of it or part — and approve the transaction. The LP tokens are destroyed, the underlying liquidity stays in the pool and keeps trading, and the share you burned can never be redeemed. The fees that share would have earned are forfeited along with it.

Step 4: Verify

After the transaction confirms, check the LP mint's supply on Solana Explorer, then your token's page on DexScreener and RugCheck to see how each one reports the change.

Path 2: Burn & Earn — a Permanent Lock, Not a Burn

Raydium's Burn & Earn is a permanent liquidity lock that keeps trading fees claimable. The name is misleading in one specific and important way: nothing is destroyed.

How Burn & Earn Actually Works

1. Your LP tokens are transferred into Raydium's lock program — the LP mint's supply does not change
2. A Fee Key NFT is minted to your wallet
3. The underlying liquidity can never be withdrawn again, by you or anyone else
4. Trading fees keep accruing, and the NFT's holder can harvest them at any time

The NFT is the part people miss. It is transferable, and holding it is the only way to claim: send it away and the recipient earns the fees instead; burn it or lose the wallet and the fees become unclaimable by anyone. The liquidity stays locked either way. Treat it as a deed, not as an airdrop to clear out.

Harvesting Fees

1. Visit SolTokenCreator.io/burn-lp-tokens
2. Connect the wallet holding the Fee Key NFT
3. View your locked positions and their pending fees
4. Click Harvest

Harvest stays disabled until there are unclaimed fees on both sides of the pool, so a freshly locked position or a quiet pool will show a pending balance that cannot be collected yet. More volume through the pool fixes it.

Burn vs Burn & Earn

| | Burn LP Tokens | Burn & Earn Lock | |---|---|---| | LP tokens destroyed | Yes, supply drops | No, held by the lock program | | Liquidity withdrawable after | Never | Never | | Trading fees on that liquidity | Forfeited | Stay claimable | | Pool types covered | Any Raydium LP, incl. AMM V4 | Raydium CPMM only | | What you hold afterwards | Nothing | A transferable Fee Key NFT | | On-chain cost | Network fee | Network fee + NFT account rent | | Reversible | No | No |

CPMM vs AMM V4: Which Path Is Available

CPMM Pools

• LP tokens are standard SPL tokens, so burning works
• Burn & Earn locking is supported
• Most common pool type for new tokens, and the one to choose if you want the option to lock

AMM V4 Pools

• LP tokens are standard SPL tokens, so burning works
• Burn & Earn locking is not supported — Raydium's lock program does not cover AMM V4, so V4 positions will not appear in the Burn & Earn tool
• If you hold V4 LP and want the liquidity permanently secured, burn it outright

How Much Liquidity Should You Burn?

| Share Secured | Trust Level | Recommendation | |----------------|-------------|----------------| | 100% | Highest trust | Recommended for meme coins and community tokens | | 90-99% | Very high trust | Good if you want to keep a small reserve | | 50-89% | Moderate trust | Shows commitment but leaves options open | | Under 50% | Low trust | May not satisfy experienced traders | | 0% | Lowest trust | Red flag for most communities |

Whatever you leave unsecured stays withdrawable, and anyone reading the chain can see it — a partial commitment is visibly partial. Our recommendation: secure 100%. Choose Burn & Earn over an outright burn when the pool is CPMM and you expect enough volume for the fee stream to be worth managing an NFT for; burn outright when you want nothing left behind, or when the pool is AMM V4 and locking is not on the table.

Common Questions

Can I undo an LP token burn or a lock? No. Both are permanent and irreversible on-chain. There is no recovery path and no period after which a lock expires. Irreversibility is the entire point — it is what makes the commitment credible.

Does burning LP tokens affect the pool? No. The pool continues functioning normally. Traders can still buy and sell. Liquidity remains in the pool. The only change is that the burned LP can never be redeemed.

How long after pool creation should I burn? As soon as possible. The longer LP tokens remain unburned, the more time traders have to worry about a rug pull. Many successful launches burn LP within the same transaction or immediately after pool creation.

Does burning or locking cost anything? There is no platform fee for either on SolTokenCreator.io. An outright burn costs the Solana network transaction fee. A Burn & Earn lock costs more, because the transaction also creates the accounts behind the Fee Key NFT and its metadata, and those accounts require rent. Your wallet shows the exact amount before you approve.

What if I only secured part of my LP? You can burn or lock more at any time; each is a separate transaction. The remainder stays withdrawable until you do, and that is visible to anyone inspecting the pool.

Next Steps

1. Create your token if you have not already
2. Revoke authorities for supply and freeze protection
3. Create a liquidity pool on Raydium
4. Burn LP tokens outright, or lock the position with Burn & Earn
5. Verify on explorers and DexScreener

Related guides:

• Create Liquidity Pool Guide
• Token Security Best Practices
• Token Launch Guide
• Burn LP Tokens on Solana — run either path