How to solve "Transaction Stuck" on Ethereum wallets? (Speed Up)

Understanding Transaction Stuck Phenomenon

1. A stuck transaction occurs when an Ethereum transaction remains in the pending state for an extended duration without confirmation.

2. This typically happens due to insufficient gas price, network congestion, or wallet interface misreporting.

3. Ethereum’s proof-of-work legacy (pre-Merge) and current proof-of-stake consensus both rely on mempool prioritization — transactions with lower gas fees may linger indefinitely.

4. Wallets like MetaMask, Trust Wallet, or Coinbase Wallet display “pending” status but do not automatically adjust parameters unless explicitly instructed.

5. The Ethereum blockchain itself does not support cancellation of broadcasted transactions — only replacement or acceleration is viable.

Gas Price Mechanics and Mempool Behavior

1. Every transaction includes a gas price denominated in gwei, which determines miner or validator priority.

2. During peak usage, average gas prices surge — transactions set below the 25th percentile often stall for hours or days.

3. Block builders select transactions based on fee-per-gas unit; a low-value transaction may be dropped from the mempool after ~3–7 hours if unconfirmed.

4. EIP-1559 introduced base fee burning and priority fee separation — users must now consider both base fee volatility and tip amount.

5. Real-time gas trackers such as etherscan.io/gastracker or gasnow.org reflect live demand pressure across blocks.

Step-by-Step Speed Up Procedure

1. Open your wallet interface and navigate to the transaction history section.

2. Locate the pending transaction and click “Speed Up” — this option appears only if the transaction has not yet been included in a block.

3. The wallet will pre-fill a new transaction with identical nonce, recipient, and value, but increase the maxFeePerGas and maxPriorityFeePerGas.

4. Confirm the updated gas parameters using your hardware or software wallet signature flow.

5. Monitor the new hash on Etherscan — the original transaction becomes invalid once the replacement is confirmed.

Manual Replacement via Custom Nonce

1. If “Speed Up” is unavailable, manually broadcast a new transaction with the same nonce but higher fees.

2. Set value to 0 ETH if sending tokens, or match the original amount exactly if transferring ETH.

3. Use advanced wallet settings to enable “Custom nonce” and input the exact nonce from the stuck transaction.

4. Ensure maxFeePerGas exceeds current base fee by at least 15–20 gwei and maxPriorityFeePerGas is ≥2.5 gwei.

5. Submit and verify inclusion using the new transaction hash — original will vanish from mempool within two blocks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I cancel a stuck transaction without spending additional ETH?A: No. Cancellation requires broadcasting a zero-value transaction with the same nonce and higher gas fees — it consumes ETH for execution and gas.

Q: Why does my wallet show “Confirmed” but Etherscan shows “Pending”?A: Wallets sometimes misinterpret local node sync status. Always verify finality on Etherscan or another block explorer using the exact transaction hash.

Q: Does increasing gas limit help unstuck a transaction?A: No. Gas limit defines computation capacity, not priority. Only gas price parameters affect confirmation speed.

Q: What happens if both original and speed-up transactions get confirmed?A: Ethereum’s nonce system prevents double execution — only the first transaction with a given nonce is accepted. The second overwrites the first in the mempool and chain.