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What Is a Honeypot?

A honeypot is a token designed so you can buy it but cannot sell it. The chart goes up, because only buys can execute. You watch your position grow, try to take profit, and the transaction fails. The trap was in the code from the start, and the chart was the bait.

How It Actually Works

The token's contract enforces rules ordinary buyers never read: sell functions restricted to approved wallets, transfer blocks, sell taxes set to absurd rates, or switches the creator can flip after launch. To a DEX the token looks normal, and to a chart it looks great, because the only sellers are the insiders on the exemption list.

Risks and Common Mistakes

• Trusting the chart. A rising price with no failed-sell check tells you nothing. The rise is the product.
• Trusting detectors completely. Honeypot checkers simulate sells and catch the crude traps. Sophisticated ones activate later, after the detectors pass them.
• Testing with size. If you must touch a suspicious token, prove you can sell a dust-sized amount first. Better: skip it entirely.

When It Matters

Hunting new launches on screeners, which is where honeypots live. They are one of the two signature traps alongside rug pulls, and the research routine on my Memecoins page is built around both. If the burden of proof is not on the token, it is on your wallet.

Related Terms

• Rug pull
• Contract address

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