Ethereum risk signals

Signaux de risque Ethereum

RektRadar's analyzers raise 52 distinct flags on any Ethereum token. Each one targets a specific scam, soft-rug, or operational red flag. Click through for the full explanation: what the flag means, why it puts funds at risk, and how it is detected on-chain.

What is a honeypot in crypto?

A honeypot is a token you can buy but cannot sell. The contract looks normal on Etherscan, the pool has liquidity, the buy transaction goes through — then the sell silently fails. Your ETH stays in the pool, the tokens stay in your wallet, and the deployer drains the liquidity hours later.

How RektRadar detects honeypots

RektRadar simulates the full buy + sell round-trip on Uniswap V2/V3 and SushiSwap with three different amounts (0.01, 0.05, 0.5 ETH) before any real interaction. If either side fails, the contract is flagged before you spend a single wei. The seven analyzers below run in parallel on every new ERC-20 — bytecode, source code, liquidity, holder distribution, deployer history, on-chain graph, and swap activity — and feed a weighted risk score.

Honeypot Simulation (10)

Honeypot Danger
The token can be bought but cannot be sold — funds are trapped on-chain.
Buy Failed Warning
Even buying the token fails in simulation — likely paused or pre-launch.
Sell Failed Danger
Buy succeeds but sell reverts — classic honeypot signature.
Sell Explicitly Blocked Danger
Sells revert with an explicit guard — not a slippage issue, an intent.
Buy-Only Pattern Danger
On-chain history shows hundreds of buys and zero sells — telltale honeypot trace.
Amount-Dependent Sell Danger
Selling small amounts works, large amounts fail — partial honeypot.
Maximum Sell Limit Warning
Sells above a threshold are blocked — exit caps drag liquidity providers underwater.
Maximum Transaction Cap Warning
All transfers above a per-tx limit revert — common anti-whale + soft-rug pattern.
Anti-Bot Cooldown Warning
Mandatory delay between transfers — slows down sells, helps the operator front-run.
Trading Not Enabled Info
The contract has a `tradingEnabled` switch and it is currently off.

Source-Code Analysis (7)

Blacklist Mapping Danger
The contract can blacklist any address from selling — a kill-list with no notice period.
Owner Not Renounced Warning
The contract still has an owner — nothing prevents a future privileged change.
Upgradeable Proxy Warning
The contract is a proxy — its logic can be swapped without users' consent.
Proxy Admin Role Warning
An admin role exists and can change the proxy's implementation contract.
Beacon Proxy Warning
Multiple contracts share a single upgradeable implementation — one switch rugs all of them.
UUPS Proxy Warning
The implementation contract holds its own upgrade logic — accidental brick risk plus rug risk.
Mimics a Known Token Danger
The name or symbol matches a popular token, but the contract address is different.

Bytecode Patterns (4)

Known Scam Bytecode Danger
The contract's bytecode matches a previously identified scam — almost certainly the same factory.
Suspicious Function Selectors Warning
The bytecode exposes function selectors known to enable rugs (sweepETH, removeLiquidityNoFee, etc.).
Source Unverified Info
No verified source on Etherscan — analysis falls back to bytecode-only signals.
Very Small Contract Warning
The bytecode is too small to be a real ERC-20 — likely a proxy front for malicious logic.

Liquidity Analysis (7)

Low Liquidity Warning
The pool holds very little ETH — slippage explodes on any non-trivial trade.
Liquidity Added at Creation Warning
The deployer provided the initial liquidity in the same transaction as the deployment.
Creator Holds All LP Danger
The deployer wallet still owns 95%+ of the LP tokens — a one-tx rug is one click away.
LP Tokens Burned Good
LP tokens were sent to a burn address — liquidity is locked forever, no rug from here.
LP Tokens Locked Good
LP tokens are held in a recognized lock contract for a fixed duration.
LP Not Burned Warning
LP tokens are still held by an EOA — neither burned nor locked.
No DEX Pair Warning
The token has no liquidity pool — it cannot be traded on any DEX.

Distribution Analysis (3)

Single Mint, Concentrated Danger
All tokens were minted in one transaction to a single wallet — no fair launch.
Very Few Holders Warning
The token has fewer than 5 unique holders — almost no real distribution yet.
One-Sided Trading Warning
The pair has buys but no sells — either honeypot or pre-launch silence.

Deployer Profiling (9)

New Wallet Warning
The deployer's wallet is less than 7 days old — disposable identity.
Young Wallet Info
The deployer's wallet is 7-30 days old — softer version of `new_wallet`.
Previous Scam Tokens Danger
The deployer has previously deployed tokens that RektRadar flagged as scams.
Previous Risky Tokens Warning
The deployer has previously deployed tokens scored 50-70 — risky but not confirmed scams.
Prolific Deployer Warning
The wallet has deployed 50+ contracts — likely a token factory operator.
Mass Deployer Danger
The wallet has deployed 200+ contracts — almost certainly an automated scam factory.
Mostly Deploys Contracts Warning
Over 80% of this wallet's transactions are contract deployments — no real on-chain life.
Serial Scammer Danger
The deployer has multiple confirmed scam deploys — a known bad actor.
Disposable Wallet Warning
The deployer wallet was emptied shortly after the deploy — built to be abandoned.

Network Graph (5)

Mass Deployer Network Warning
The deployer's funding chain leads to a known mass-deployer wallet — same operator, different identity.
Serial Scammer Network Danger
The deployer is funded by, or funds, a known serial scammer — guilt by graph association.
Mixer-Funded Danger
The deployer's ETH was sourced from Tornado Cash or another mixer.
Fresh Deployer Funded by Fresh Wallet Warning
Both the deployer and the funder are wallets less than a few days old.
Funded by Scam Factory Danger
The funder has previously bankrolled multiple scam deploys — it's a scam-factory bank.

Swap Activity (7)

High Buy Ratio Warning
Buys outnumber sells by 10x or more — abnormal trading distribution.
Elevated Sell Fee Info
Sells incur a 5-15% fee — high but not yet rug territory.
Moderate Sell Fee Warning
Sell fee in the 15-30% range — punitive enough to discourage exits.
High Sell Fee Danger
Sell fee in the 30-50% range — soft rug, exits are economically unviable.
Extreme Sell Fee Danger
Sell fee above 50% — borderline honeypot, the contract drains exits.
Normal Fees Info
Fees are within normal Uniswap range — neutral signal, no specific risk.
Analyzer Panic Info
An internal analyzer step crashed — the result is incomplete.

FAQ

What is a honeypot token?

A honeypot is an ERC-20 contract that blocks selling while still accepting buys. The code looks legitimate on Etherscan, but a hidden check in the transfer function reverts every sell, trapping buyers' ETH in the liquidity pool.

How do I check if a token is a honeypot?

Paste the contract address on rektradar.io. RektRadar simulates a buy and a sell at three amounts on every supported DEX, returns the risk score in under two seconds, and shows which of the 52 signals were raised.

How many risk signals does RektRadar track?

RektRadar tracks 52 distinct on-chain signals across 7 analyzers: honeypot simulation, source-code analysis, bytecode patterns, liquidity analysis, holder distribution, deployer profiling, on-chain network graph, and live swap activity. Each signal is documented on this page.

Is RektRadar free?

Yes. Pasting a contract address and getting the risk score plus the list of raised signals is free, no signup required. Premium plans add bulk scanning, alerting, an API and access to deployer-graph forensics.

Does RektRadar work on chains other than Ethereum?

RektRadar focuses on Ethereum mainnet. The honeypot simulator, deployer graph and swap-activity analyzer all rely on three dedicated Ethereum nodes (Nethermind + Lighthouse) with full archive and mempool access — replicating that on another chain is on the roadmap but not live yet.

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