A Solana honeypot is a token you can buy but cannot sell. On Solana it is usually built with a live freeze authority, a Token-2022 transfer hook, a default-frozen account state or a punishing transfer fee. All four are visible on chain before you buy.
A honeypot traps buyers so only the creator can sell into the pool. The chart keeps rising because nobody else is able to exit, which draws in more buyers. When the creator drains the liquidity, the holders are left with tokens they could never sell.
The classic method: the mint keeps a freeze authority and the creator freezes buyers' token accounts. Your balance stays visible, but every transfer fails. A token with a live freeze authority is rated DANGER by TokenGuard on that signal alone.
Newer honeypots use Token-2022 extensions: a transfer hook that rejects sales from wallets not on an allow list, accounts frozen by default that the creator never thaws, a permanent delegate that can pull tokens back, or a transfer fee raised after launch until selling returns almost nothing.
Paste the address in @Token_guard_bot. It reads the mint account and lists every authority and extension it finds, with a SAFE, CAUTION or DANGER verdict. In a group, the bot answers automatically when someone posts the contract.
Yes, if it uses Token-2022 extensions instead. Always check the token program and its extensions, not only the freeze authority.
Usually not. Once the liquidity is drained there is nothing to sell into. Checking before buying is the only real protection.
A sell simulation catches traps active at that moment. A fee or hook switched on later will not show up, which is why reading the authorities that can change the token matters too.
See the tokens TokenGuard has checked and what happened to them 24 hours later.