What is Honeypot?
A scam token whose contract lets you buy but silently blocks you from selling. The chart only ever goes up — because no victim can exit.
A honeypot is a scam token whose contract contains a one-way valve: anyone can buy, but the code silently prevents victims from selling — often by whitelisting only the creators' addresses for sales. The price chart looks miraculous, because no sell orders from victims ever land. Then the creators drain the pool.
Honeypots live where new tokens launch — on DEXs, minutes old, marketed through social media urgency. Established coins on regulated exchanges structurally can't behave this way. If you venture into new tokens regardless: contract scanners catch many (not all) honeypots, and the manual test is grim but effective — check whether ordinary wallets in the token's history have ever successfully sold. A chart that only rises isn't opportunity; it's the trap working.
See it in practice
Related terms: Rug pull · DEX (decentralised exchange) · Pump and dump · full glossary
FAQ
How is a honeypot different from a rug pull?
A rug pull drains the liquidity so the token can't be sold at any meaningful price; a honeypot blocks your sales at the contract level while the pool still exists. Same ending, different mechanism — and honeypots are nastier to spot because the chart looks healthy.
Can I check a token for honeypot code before buying?
Automated scanners simulate a buy-and-sell and catch many traps, and block explorers show whether real holders have ever sold. Neither is a guarantee — which is itself the answer about buying minutes-old tokens.
General information only, not financial advice. Definitions are maintained in our fact database and reviewed with the daily rebuild.