NFTexplained.info is a team of long term crypto investors who have blockchain experience and are familiar with the tech used in the space – especially NFTs. In this article we will explain the best way to fix pending/stuck translations on the Ethereum blockchain.
A transaction on the Ethereum blockchain may not be processed if a miner is not incentivized to verify it. The ‘gas fee’ is the reward a miner receives for verifying a transaction. With gas fees set below the recommended amount, miners will choose to verify other transactions with a higher reward (gas fee) first.
Transactions on the blockchain need to be approved and miners are the ones who verify transactions; this is one aspect that helps in making the blockchain safe. If the gas fee or miner’s reward is set too low, the transaction will never be processed.
Verifying transactions may require a high amount of energy depending on the consensus algorithm of the blockchain. If you would like to learn more about the proof of work consensus algorithm, proof of stake consensus algorithm, and the amount of energy an NFT consumes, click here.
Transactions on the Ethereum blockchain occur for a variety of reasons including the swapping of different cryptocurrencies, sending cryptocurrencies to a wallet address, burning (or removing from circulation), and the tokenization or minting of an NFT.
NFTexplained.info recommends using ether scan to check current gas prices. By looking at the gas fee for processing transactions with low, medium, and high priority you will see the amount of ETH required as well as the estimated amount of time it will take for the transaction to be verified.
By plugging in your Ethereum address into Ether scan you can look at your pending transactions and you have the ability to see the amount of time the transaction will take to complete.
In this article NFTexplained.info will cover how to fix transactions taking a long time on the Ethereum blockchain, how to cancel transactions using MetaMask, the best method for fixing stuck transactions, and the best method for cancelling numerous pending transaction (aka completing a minor reset on MetaMask).
How To Fix Transactions Taking A Long Time (Pending)
It is important to note that all transactions on the Ethereum blockchain require gas, even for the cancellation of a pending transaction. NFTexplained.info recommends making sure the transaction you would like to go through is the lowest nonce and to simply be patient.
Many people wonder why a particular transaction is taking so long to complete. NFTexplained.info will provide a step by step walkthrough as to how to speed up a pending transaction.
A transaction may be stuck if too little a gas fee was offered. To fix this go to MetaMask and under activity, click ‘Speed Up’ on the pending transaction; choose a processing time in which you are willing to pay for higher gas (e.g. Fast estimated processing time).
Offering a higher gas fee will incentivize a miner to complete the transaction as they will receive a higher reward. If you don’t want to increase the gas fee payable, another option is cancelling the transaction which we will walk you through.
How To Cancel Transactions On MetaMask
There are a number of reasons as to why someone would want to cancel a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain. For example you may no longer want an NFT you have purchased (pending) on OpenSea since you would rather save your ETH.
Cancelling a transaction is not guaranteed to work and it does require a small amount of gas. To cancel a transaction, open MetaMask and under activity, click ‘Cancel’ on the transaction. The gas fee will pop up for you to confirm and the cancellation will likely be processed.
We recommend waiting some amount of time before checking to see if the transaction has been declined. If for some reason the cancellation method does not work, NFTexplained.info will teach you another trick to reset pending transactions.
Best Method For Fixing Stuck Transactions Via MetaMask
If you would prefer not to use the method NFTexplained.info stated above, this tutorial provides an alternative, effective option. This method costs a small amount of gas but is an effective way to reset pending transactions.
This method is completed by sending zero Ethereum to your MetaMask wallet; it works by replacing the transaction through sending a minimum of 10% higher gas price and gas limit, than the pending transaction using the same nonce. This will override the pending transaction.
A more simple method, especially when multiple transactions are pending, may be to reset your account which we will explain in the next section of our article.
While this method may seem slightly confusing, do not worry as NFTexplained.info will walk you through the process. We recommend following along step by step as you read this guide.
Open your MetaMask account and click on the account which has the pending transaction you would like to fix. Hit ‘Settings’, ‘Advanced’, and then turn on ‘Customize transaction nonce’.
It is important to look at nounce which is what Ethereum operates on. Nonce is the order of transactions for a specific address. A transaction with a lower nonce must be processed before a higher nonce transaction can be processed. You can’t have a transaction with a nonce of 1 approved before a transaction with a nonce of 0 is approved.
If a transaction is stuck, you must fix the transaction with the lowest nonce first. It is likely that the transaction with the lowest nonce is at the bottom of ether scan.
After ‘Customize transaction nonce’ is turned on, go back and click on the pending transaction so you can view it on Ether Scan. If the transaction on Ether Scan says, “There is a pending txn with a lower account nonce. This txn can only be executed after confirmation of the earlier Txn Hash#.” Click on ‘Txn Hash#’ at the end of the previous sentence; this will take you to the transaction with the lowest nonce which needs to be fixed first.
Click on ‘Click to see More’ and then scroll down to find the nonce (e.g. 450). After this go back to MetaMask and copy your wallet address and then click ‘Send’. Enter your address and send zero ETH.
Before submitting the transaction, go to advanced options and change the gas price (Gwei) and Gas Limit. In order for this to work, the gas price and gas limit must be at least 10% higher than the pending transaction.
For example, on ether scan if the gas price for the pending transaction was 3,500 Gwei then you must enter at least 3,850 Gwei on MetaMask (any Gwei higher than that would also work). Make sure the gas limit is also at least 10% higher (e.g. 5,000 would be entered as a minimum of 5,500) for this method to be effective.
After the new, 10% higher gas price and gas limit have been entered, click ‘Save’. After this click ‘next’ and you will now see the option to enter a custom nonce; enter the nonce for the pending transaction shown on Ether Scan (e.g. 450 to continue the example with the same numbers). After that click ‘Confirm’ and wait a bit for the transaction to be approved.
This will remove the pending transaction.
If you have multiple pending transactions, NFTexplained.info will walk you through the simple process for fixing that.
Best Method For Cancelling Multiple Pending Transactions (MetaMask)
If you have a number of transactions that have been processed for some time, you may want to complete a minor reset on your MetaMask Wallet. NFTexplained.info will walk you through resetting pending transactions.
Open your MetaMask account, and then click on the account in which you would like to clear transactions. Click on ‘Advanced’ and then click ‘Reset Account’. This clears pending transactions while not removing the balance in your account.
If you can still see pending transactions in your account, simply existing out of the browser and then opening up MetaMask will likely show that there are no pending transactions.
NFTexplained.info thinks this is presumably the fastest and most effective way to remove numerous processing transactions. For that scenario, resetting all transactions would be more effective as cancelling numerous pending transactions would inquire fees and may take a long time.
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