How to Check if a Smart Contract is a Honeypot 🕵️♂️ | Useful Tools & Resources
Navigating the world of DeFi and meme coins can be exciting—but also dangerous. One of the biggest traps new investors fall into is honeypot contracts: tokens you can buy but can't sell. Here's how you can avoid these scams by verifying smart contracts before you invest.
🔍 What Is a Honeypot?
A honeypot contract allows you to buy tokens normally, but once you're in, it prevents you from selling them back—either by blocking the sell function or heavily taxing transactions out. The goal is simple: trap liquidity and profit off new users.
🛠️ How to Detect a Honeypot
Before interacting with any unknown token or dApp, take a few minutes to check the contract using the tools below. These platforms let you simulate transactions and analyze contract behavior.
🧪 Recommended Honeypot Detection Tools
Honeypot.is
https://honeypot.is
One of the most popular tools for simulating buys and sells on BSC and Ethereum contracts. Just paste the contract address and it’ll test for basic honeypot behavior.
Token Sniffer
https://tokensniffer.com
Analyzes contract source code, ownership, liquidity locks, and checks for known scam patterns. Includes a honeypot test and a "security score".
DEXTools Pair Explorer
https://www.dextools.io/app
Go to the Pair Explorer, find the token, and look at recent trades. If no one has sold in hours or days—big red flag. You can also see suspicious tax fees here.
BSCheck (BSC only)
https://bscheck.eu
Offers a comprehensive safety score based on buy/sell simulation, contract functions, and more. A good second opinion tool for BSC projects.
GoPlus Security
https://gopluslabs.io/token-security
Advanced smart contract scanning for multiple chains. Checks for honeypot behavior, blacklists, owner privileges, and proxy functions.
🚨 Tips Before You Ape In
-Always test with a small amount. Even if a contract passes, tax fees can still drain your funds.
-Look at liquidity. Locked liquidity (or burned LP tokens) is a green flag. Removable liquidity = rug potential.
-Check if the contract is verified on Etherscan, BscScan, etc.
-Avoid tokens with high sell taxes or "anti-bot" functions.
Final Thoughts
If something looks too good to be true—it usually is. These tools won’t guarantee your safety, but using all of them together greatly reduces the chance of falling into a honeypot trap.
Stay smart, stay skeptical, and always DYOR. 💡
If you know any other useful tools for contract analysis, feel free to drop them in the comments below 👇