How often does bitcoin mempool get empty?

[Synchronice]

Literally made transaction with 2 sat/vB and it got one confirmation immediately. Right now, I look at mempool.space and 1 sat/vB is enough to get first confirmation in 10 minutes and if you send transaction with 0 sat/vB, you'll get confirm in 20 minutes.
I rarely make transactions but when I send, I always have to pay at least 10 sat/vB and have to wait for an hour or more. I have never seen something like this, how often does it happen? I have heard that years ago you could make it with 0 sat/vB but today, right now?
 

[LoyceV]

Literally made transaction with 2 sat/vB and it got one confirmation immediately.

You overpaid See my topic on low fees.

I have never seen something like this

Up to 2 months ago, low fees were very common. You've been around longer than that.

how often does it happen?

See jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#BTC,all,weight.

I have heard that years ago you could make it with 0 sat/vB but today, right now?

The default minimum of 1 sat/vbyte was added years ago. Miners can go lower, but why would they?

[OmegaStarScream]

The mempool size basically correlates with anything that triggers more transactions:

- Bitcoin price and market conditions[1]
- More use cases for bitcoin: Ordinals when they first came out[2]
- I would also imagine that the same thing happened back when FTX collapsed, and people started to withdraw their funds.
etc.

[1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoins-on-the-move-is-btc-price-inversely-correlated-to-mempool-size
[2] https://beincrypto.com/bitcoin-ordinal-inscription-craze-cools-down-mempool-normal/

[Synchronice]

I have never seen something like this

Up to 2 months ago, low fees were very common. You've been around longer than that.

Yeah, I have been there for 2 months but I'm honest with you, I've rarely made bitcoin transactions. But every time I had to make BTC transaction, I had to pay fees higher than 10 sat/vB and as I said, I had to wait up to an hour or more to get one confirm. And I get kinda confused because when I read posts here, people usually complain about fees and that's the reason why lighting network was created too.

I have heard that years ago you could make it with 0 sat/vB but today, right now?

The default minimum of 1 sat/vbyte was added years ago. Miners can go lower, but why would they?

Thanks for urls that you provided. But I don't understand this part, if 1 sat/vB is a default minimum fee, then what does that 0 sat/vB mean that's written on the image above on top of the block?

[LoyceV]

I had to pay fees higher than 10 sat/vB and as I said, I had to wait up to an hour or more to get one confirm.

With a decent wallet, you can always choose your own fee. Sometimes it takes 6 weeks to confirm, but depending on your needs, that may be totally fine.

what does that 0 sat/vB mean that's written on the image above on top of the block?

I don't know, ask whoever created that image

[Synchronice]

I had to pay fees higher than 10 sat/vB and as I said, I had to wait up to an hour or more to get one confirm.

With a decent wallet, you can always choose your own fee. Sometimes it takes 6 weeks to confirm, but depending on your needs, that may be totally fine.

what does that 0 sat/vB mean that's written on the image above on top of the block?

I don't know, ask whoever created that image

I took a snapshot of mempool.space
Btw just realized that that means Median fee.

[ABCbits]

--snip--

I took a snapshot of mempool.space
Btw just realized that that means Median fee.

It looks like you found bug on mempool.space website, 1 - 1 sat vB range should equal to ~1 sat/vB. Although i visited mempool.space just now and it shows "~1 sat/vB".

--snip--
Right now, I look at mempool.space and 1 sat/vB is enough to get first confirmation in 10 minutes and if you send transaction with 0 sat/vB, you'll get confirm in 20 minutes.
--snip--

Aside from display bug, block which shows text "In ~20 minutes" roughly means current transaction on mempool with fee range 1 - 1 sat/vB will be confirmed in ~20 minutes (only based on current mempool state). When choosing fee, following fee rate under column "Transaction fees" usually is better option since it use more complex calculation[1].

[1] https://mempool.space/docs/faq#looking-up-fee-estimates

[Pmalek]

If you take a look at Jochen Hoenicke's mempool representation for the last two days, you can see how the fees started dropping between 21 and 22 April. In the last 24 hours, there were many windows for 1-2 sat/vByte transactions, and that's something we haven't seen in a long time.

I have no idea what caused the sudden drop, as the mempools are slowly filling against with +15k of unconfirmed transactions.
I am also confused with your statement that every time you send BTC in the past, you had to pay 10 sat/vByte or more. Before this Ordinals nonsense begun, I have done many transactions paying 1 to 1.3 sat/vByte that got confirmed relatively quickly. 

Do you check the state of the mempools manually or do you just rely on whatever the software you use suggests? You should always do your own manual checks.

[RickDeckard]

While we are on the subject of mempool being empty, and considering my limited knowledge regarding Lightning Network, isn't this a great time to open lightning channels considering the fact that the fees are ~ 1sat/vB? If so, why is this considered a great opportunity to open them?

[Pmalek]

While we are on the subject of mempool being empty, and considering my limited knowledge regarding Lightning Network, isn't this a great time to open lightning channels considering the fact that the fees are ~ 1sat/vB?

The fees have gone up already since OP created this thread. You are now looking at 3 to 4 sat/vByte for a next block confirmation, and I am sure it will get worse. There are over 25k of unconfirmed transactions now.
The LN makes sense if you are going to make multiple transactions back and forth with one party. And you still need the opening and closing on-chain transaction.

[dzungmobile]

Yeah, I have been there for 2 months but I'm honest with you, I've rarely made bitcoin transactions. But every time I had to make BTC transaction, I had to pay fees higher than 10 sat/vB and as I said, I had to wait up to an hour or more to get one confirm. And I get kinda confused because when I read posts here, people usually complain about fees and that's the reason why lighting network was created too.

Transaction fees on Bitcoin network are more expensive in latest months because of Ordinal effects which make mempools more over-loaded than usual. However, if you know when mempools are often less over-loaded, I am sure that you won't have to pay more than 10 sat/ vbyte for your transaction in latest weeks.

Honestly answer me, when you made those transactions, on what day from Monday to Sunday? Only tell you what day of week you made those transactions, I can tell you why you likely overpaid. 

• Guide to check fees: Taker, maker, deposit, withdrawal, transaction fees
• See