# Honeypot Token Checker: Can This Token Be Sold?

> Honeypot checker for EVM tokens: a simulated buy and sell shows whether the token can be sold, its effective buy and sell tax and the owner powers behind it.

Markdown copy of https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/honeypot-token-checker

**Question:** Can this token be sold after it is bought, and what buy and sell taxes does it charge?

- Kind: Dashboard in Voltfin Vantage
- Topic: [Security and risk](https://voltfincrypto.com/topics/security)
- Chains: Multi-chain, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base
- Status: Planned. The data is not published yet, so this page states no figure; each figure will open its receipt when it is.

A honeypot is a token that can be bought but not sold, or only sold at a tax that takes most of the proceeds. This dashboard simulates a buy and then a sell of a token through its main pool at the latest block, from a fresh address, and reports whether the sell went through and how much each leg really cost.

The simulation is paired with what the contract can still change: blacklist and max-transaction functions, fee setters, trading switches, the owner and any proxy admin. A token can pass today and fail after its owner changes a setting, so each result is dated to its block, and every figure links to the simulated calls and the reads behind it.

A second page applies the same check to each day's new tokens on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base and the other covered chains, to show how often launches fail it and which tokens failed most recently.

## Blueprint

### Check a token

Whether one token can be sold now and what it charges.

- **Can be sold**: Whether the simulated sell from a fresh address succeeded at the latest block, with the revert reason when it failed.
- **Buy tax** (%): The effective buy tax: the share of the tokens the pool's price implies that did not arrive in the simulated buy.
- **Sell tax** (%): The effective sell tax: the share of the sale's value lost in the simulated sell, beyond the pool's own fee.
- **Sells since launch** (count): Swaps that sold the token into its pools since launch, beside the buys; buys with no sells at all is the classic honeypot sign.
- **Powers the contract keeps**: The privileged functions found in the bytecode, the owner and any proxy admin, each with the read behind it.
- **Liquidity in the main pool** (USD): Liquidity in the token's main pool since launch, so a pull shows beside the sell result.

### New tokens

How many of each day's new tokens fail the sell check.

- **New tokens failing the check** (%): Share of the latest day's new tokens with a pool on the selected chain that failed the simulated sell.
- **New tokens checked** (count): New tokens with a DEX pool that were checked on the selected chain on the latest day.
- **Failure rate by day** (%): Daily share of new tokens failing the sell check, per chain.
- **Latest tokens that failed**: The latest new tokens that failed the check, with chain, pool, deployer and the reason the sell failed.

Filters: Token (Any token contract address on a covered chain); Chain (Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base and the other covered EVM chains).

## How it will be measured

- The check runs one eth_call at the latest block with a state override that funds a fresh address and deploys a helper contract, which buys through the token's main pool and then sells what it received.
- Buy tax is the shortfall between the tokens the pool's reserves say should arrive and those that do; sell tax is the same shortfall on the way back, both from balance changes in the simulation.
- A token counts as unsellable when the sell reverts, returns nothing or loses nearly all of its value; the revert reason is shown where the contract gives one.
- Owner powers come from bytecode function selectors, owner() and the EIP-1967 implementation and admin slots, read at the same block.
- Real trades are counted as well: sell swaps through the token's pools since launch, beside the buys.

## Data it needs

- `token_launches_daily` (to build): New tokens deployed per chain and launchpad per day, how many reached a DEX pool, and how many were abandoned.
- `dex_swaps_daily` (to build): Swap counts and volume per DEX, pool and chain per day, decoded from Swap events, valued with stablecoin legs and oracle prices.
- `dex_liquidity_daily` (to build): Liquidity held by each DEX pool at day end, in tokens and valued in USD, with fee tier and pool age.
- Source: eth_call with state overrides: a helper contract buys through the token's main V2 or V3 pool and sells back at the latest block
- Source: Balance changes in the simulation, for the effective buy and sell tax
- Source: Bytecode function selectors for blacklist, max-transaction, fee setters and trading toggles
- Source: owner() and the EIP-1967 implementation and admin slots
- Source: Swap events on the token's pools, for buys and sells since launch

## Questions

### What is a honeypot token?

A honeypot is a token whose contract lets people buy but blocks or heavily taxes selling, often by blacklisting buyers, limiting sells to an allowlist or setting the sell fee near the full amount. Its price chart can look healthy because only buys go through.

### Why can't I sell my token?

A failed sell usually means the contract blocks it: the address may be blacklisted, trading may be switched off, a maximum transaction or wallet limit may apply or the sell tax may be set so high that the swap fails its slippage check. The simulation shows which of these the contract does.

### What are buy and sell taxes on a token?

Some tokens take a fee on each transfer to or from their pool and send it to a treasury, to holders or to the deployer. The effective tax measured here is the share of the trade that did not arrive, which can differ from the rate a project advertises.

### Can a token pass a honeypot check and still be a scam?

Yes. A simulation shows what the contract does at one block for one fresh address. An owner who keeps fee or blacklist powers can change the result later, and liquidity can still be removed, so the owner powers and the pool's liquidity are shown beside the result.

### Does the honeypot check spend real tokens?

No. The buy and the sell run inside an eth_call simulation against the latest state, so nothing is signed, sent or paid, and no wallet of the reader's is involved.

## Glossary

- **Simulation**: Running a transaction against a chain's current state with eth_call, without broadcasting it, to see what it would do.
- **State override**: An eth_call option that temporarily changes balances or code for the simulation, such as funding a fresh address.
- **Effective tax**: The share of a buy or sell that fails to arrive, measured from the simulation's balance changes rather than from the project's stated rate.

## Related apps

- [Token Safety Check: Mint, Blacklist and Owner Powers](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/token-safety-check)
- [Rug Pull Tracker: New Tokens With Liquidity Pulled](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/rug-pull-tracker)
- [New Crypto Tokens Launched Today](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/new-crypto-tokens-today)
- [BNB Chain Memecoins: four.meme Launches and Volume](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/bnb-chain-memecoins)
- [Memecoin Survival Rate: How Many Launches Last](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/memecoin-survival-rate)
- [North Korea Crypto Hacks: Lazarus Group Theft Tracker](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/north-korea-crypto-hacks-tracker)

Build it in Voltfin Studio: https://app.voltfincrypto.com/signup?next=%2F