# Unexplained cycles burn
**URL:** https://forum.dfinity.org/t/unexplained-cycles-burn/62425
**Category:** Developers
**Created:** [January 10, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/unexplained-cycles-burn/62425 "2026-01-10T14:24:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jakepeg](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/jakepeg)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/unexplained-cycles-burn/62425/1 "2026-01-10T14:24:56Z")
Hey all, hoping someone can help me figure out what’s going on here.
I’m losing 2-3 trillion cycles overnight on a backend canister that’s not in production. This has happened a couple times now:
- Jan 7-8: Balance went from ~5.4T to ~1.8T overnight
- Jan 9-10: Balance went from ~2.59T to ~365B overnight
That’s roughly 3.6T and 2.2T gone with minimal usage.
**What I’ve ruled out:**
- Timer is set to 2hr intervals (not heartbeat)
- Very light traffic: 169 queries total, 25M instructions
- No HTTP outcalls
- Idle burn rate: ~6.87B/day
- Checked the code for loops/leaks
- Reserved cycles shows 0
**Canister details:**
- ID: f5cpb-qyaaa-aaaah-qdbeq-cai
- Memory: ~672MB including 1 snapshot
- Motoko backend
Any pointers? Thanks!
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### Author:  [@rem.codes](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/rem.codes)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2026, 10:50am UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/unexplained-cycles-burn/62425/2 "2026-01-11T10:50:10Z")
It would help if you could share your code, maybe there is a timer triggering one or multiple loops?
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### Author:  [@jakepeg](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/jakepeg)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/unexplained-cycles-burn/62425/3 "2026-01-12T14:32:33Z")
thanks rem.codes, I fixed it 🙂 there was a timer bomb!