What Is a Honeypot Token?
A honeypot is a type of crypto scam built into a token's smart contract. The contract is designed to look like a normal token, allowing you to buy freely; but when you try to sell, the transaction fails or the contract takes 100% of your proceeds.
The name comes from a classic hacker trap: bait that looks attractive but is actually a trap. Hundreds of new honeypot tokens are deployed every day, especially on low-fee chains like BSC, Base, and Solana.
Key fact:
The GoPlus security database flags over 300,000+ honeypot tokens. New ones are created daily to exploit traders chasing the next big meme coin.
How Honeypots Work Technically
There are several technical mechanisms used to trap sellers:
Transfer Hook
A hidden function runs during every sell transaction and deliberately causes it to revert, returning an error that looks random.
Excessively High Sell Tax
The contract charges 99-100% tax on sells, meaning you receive nothing even if the transaction technically succeeds.
Blacklist on Buy
Every wallet that buys is automatically added to a blacklist that prevents them from ever selling.
Maximum Transaction Size
The contract limits sell size to a tiny fraction of your holdings, making it practically impossible to exit your full position.
Time-Locked Sell
Sells are blocked until a future timestamp that can be updated by the owner ; often never actually allowed.
6 On-Chain Warning Signs
Sell Tax > 10%
High taxes are used to discourage selling or to slowly drain value from holders.
Buy-Only Simulation
GoPlus runs a real buy and sell simulation. If the sell fails, it's a honeypot.
Blacklist Function
The contract can block specific wallets from ever selling their tokens.
Transfer Pause
The owner can freeze all token transfers, preventing you from moving or selling.
Hidden Owner
Proxy patterns can hide the true contract owner who retains minting and control rights.
Unrenounced Ownership
If the team still owns the contract, they can upgrade it to add blocking code at any time.
How to Detect a Honeypot in 3 Steps
- 1Get the contract address
Always use the official contract address from the project's verified website or verified social media. Never copy from DMs or random Telegram groups; fake tokens use identical names and logos.
- 2Run a honeypot checker
Paste the address into Guava's free honeypot detector. It runs a full trade simulation plus 30+ security checks including tax analysis, blacklist functions, and contract verification; all in under 2 seconds.
- 3Read the full report
Check the risk score, buy and sell tax percentages, and any flagged warnings. If the sell tax is above 10% or any critical flag is triggered, do not buy.
If You Already Bought a Honeypot
Unfortunately, once funds are in a honeypot, they cannot be recovered. The only action you can take is to stop others from losing money too:
Always Check Before You Trade
Guava's free honeypot detector runs 30+ checks on any ERC-20, BEP-20, or Solana token in under 2 seconds.