Security Guide

What Is a Honeypot Token?

A honeypot token is a crypto scam where you can buy a token but cannot sell it. The smart contract contains hidden code that blocks sell transactions for anyone except the deployer — making your investment permanently trapped.

🎯

~35%

Of New Tokens

💀

$0

Recovery Rate

⏱️

<24h

Avg Lifespan

🔗

All DEXs

Affected

How It Works

The Honeypot Mechanism

The scammer deploys a token with a normal-looking buy function, but the sell function has a hidden condition — a 99% sell tax, address check, or transfer revert. Since nobody can sell, the price only goes up, creating an illusion of organic demand.

Once enough liquidity accumulates, the scammer sells their own allocation (bypassing the restriction) and drains the entire pool. Victims are left with worthless, unsellable tokens.

😵

Victim (You)

Can buy, cannot sell

😈

Deployer

Full buy & sell access

📈

Price Action

Only goes up (no sells)

💧

Liquidity

Drained by deployer

Step by Step

Honeypot Lifecycle

From deployment to drain — this is the playbook every honeypot follows.

Deploy
Lure
Trap
Drain
01🚀

Deploy & Lure

The scammer deploys a token with a normal-looking buy function, but the sell function has a hidden condition — a 99% sell tax, address check, or transfer revert.

02📈

Fake Growth

The token appears on DEX charts with growing price and volume. Since nobody can sell, the price only goes up — creating an illusion of organic demand.

03🎣

Victims Buy In

Seeing the rising chart, traders FOMO in and buy the token. Their buy transactions succeed normally, so nothing seems suspicious at first glance.

04💀

Drain & Exit

Once enough liquidity accumulates, the scammer sells their own allocation (bypassing the restriction) and drains the entire pool.

Know Your Enemy

5 Common Techniques

Every honeypot uses at least one of these contract-level tricks to prevent victims from selling.

01💸

Hidden Sell Tax

Buy tax shows 0-5%

Sell tax is 99-100%

Most Common
02🚫

Blacklist Function

Transfers work at first

Owner blacklists all holders

Very Common
03📏

Max Transaction Limit

Buy amount unrestricted

Sell max set to zero

Common
04🔐

Approval Manipulation

DEX approved for buy

Approval revoked for sell

Moderate
05⏸️

Pausable Transfers

Transfers work in buy phase

All transfers frozen later

Moderate
🔍

New Variants

Scammers evolve constantly. Stay updated with Coinibi.

Warning Signs

Red Flags to Watch For

Spot these signals before you buy — not after.

⛓️

On-Chain Signals

Token price only goes up with zero sell transactions

No successful sell transactions in trade history

High buy activity but suspiciously no sell activity

📜

Contract Signals

Unverified or obfuscated source code on explorer

Contract owner holds majority of total supply

Functions like setTax, blacklist, pause with no limits

💧

Liquidity Signals

Liquidity added recently and not locked

LP tokens held by the deployer wallet

No verifiable lock from Unicrypt or similar

Protect Yourself

How to Detect Honeypots

5 checks that take under a minute and can save your entire investment.

Score
History
Simulate
Audit
Liquidity
01🛡️

Check the Safety Score

Every token on Coinibi gets an automatic safety scan that checks for honeypot characteristics, including sell tax simulation and contract verification.

02📊

Inspect Sell History

Look at the token’s transaction history on the block explorer. If there are zero successful sell transactions, it’s almost certainly a honeypot.

03🧪

Simulate a Sell

Use Coinibi's built-in safety scanner to simulate a sell transaction before committing real funds. If the simulation fails or returns massive tax, stay away.

04📝

Read the Contract

If the source code is verified, search for functions like setTax, blacklist, pause, or setMaxTx. These are common in malicious contracts.

05🔒

Check Liquidity Lock

Verify that LP tokens are locked in a time-lock contract. Unlocked liquidity means the deployer can drain the pool at any time.

Emergency

Already Trapped in a Honeypot?

If a token is a confirmed honeypot, there is usually no way to recover your funds. The contract is specifically designed to prevent selling. Document the scam contract address, report it to the community and block explorer, and use this experience to strengthen your due diligence process.

Document AddressReport to ExplorerWarn CommunityStrengthen Due Diligence

Related Reading

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