Electrum specify change address?

[eleclondon]

Hello

I was a little confused by a recent BTC I sent. Few newbie questions..

BTC fee   0.000853
To  my contact   0.012
Change   0.087147
Total:   0.1

The change, was sent to another change address in Electrum, is there a way to send that change back to my regular address? I'm a little concerned i now have BTC in another address. Does that make it harder to spend?

In Electrum I have "use change addresses" ticked.

Also can I just send a closer amount? rather than 0.1BTC  (1500 USD).  What If I only had eg 0.02 BTC in my account?

[1715687139]

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[1715687139]

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[1715687139]

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[Josepht]

I am not sure if you're able to send it back to the same address in Electrum, but the other answers, I can answer.

It doesn't matter if the unspent amount goes back to the same address, or to the change address. Your wallet holds both private keys, so you're safe. It's just as easy to spend as it was in the original address.

If you had only 0.02 in your account, and you would send the same amount, you would just have 0.08 BTC less in change, so 0.007147 in stead of 0.087147.

[eleclondon]

I am not sure if you're able to send it back to the same address in Electrum, but the other answers, I can answer.

It doesn't matter if the unspent amount goes back to the same address, or to the change address. Your wallet holds both private keys, so you're safe. It's just as easy to spend as it was in the original address.

If you had only 0.02 in your account, and you would send the same amount, you would just have 0.08 BTC less in change, so 0.007147 in stead of 0.087147.

Great reply, thanks!

Is there a way I can always avoid sending 0.1BTC? it seemed like a large amount to send... when I was only sending 0.012

[Josepht]

I am not sure if you're able to send it back to the same address in Electrum, but the other answers, I can answer.

It doesn't matter if the unspent amount goes back to the same address, or to the change address. Your wallet holds both private keys, so you're safe. It's just as easy to spend as it was in the original address.

If you had only 0.02 in your account, and you would send the same amount, you would just have 0.08 BTC less in change, so 0.007147 in stead of 0.087147.

Great reply, thanks!

Is there a way I can always avoid sending 0.1BTC? it seemed like a large amount to send... when I was only sending 0.012

The only way to avoid it, is by receiving it in smaller amounts.

Just imagine your 0.1 BTC as a piece of paper. The way bitcoin works, is that you have to send the whole piece of paper. You can cut the paper in pieces if you want to though, but you have to send the whole paper.
If you want to send smaller amounts, you should receive smaller pieces of paper first. If you received 5 small pieces of paper, you are able to send only 1 smaller piece.

The pieces of paper in this example represent 'inputs' in a transaction. You have to use the input you got to make new outputs.
Do you understand, or is this example too complicated?

[HCP]

You really need to read this: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Change

and this: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/coin_analogy

It will answer all your questions how and why this has happened (and why it will happen in the future).

[eleclondon]

I am not sure if you're able to send it back to the same address in Electrum, but the other answers, I can answer.

It doesn't matter if the unspent amount goes back to the same address, or to the change address. Your wallet holds both private keys, so you're safe. It's just as easy to spend as it was in the original address.

If you had only 0.02 in your account, and you would send the same amount, you would just have 0.08 BTC less in change, so 0.007147 in stead of 0.087147.

Great reply, thanks!

Is there a way I can always avoid sending 0.1BTC? it seemed like a large amount to send... when I was only sending 0.012

The only way to avoid it, is by receiving it in smaller amounts.

Just imagine your 0.1 BTC as a piece of paper. The way bitcoin works, is that you have to send the whole piece of paper. You can cut the paper in pieces if you want to though, but you have to send the whole paper.
If you want to send smaller amounts, you should receive smaller pieces of paper first. If you received 5 small pieces of paper, you are able to send only 1 smaller piece.

The pieces of paper in this example represent 'inputs' in a transaction. You have to use the input you got to make new outputs.
Do you understand, or is this example too complicated?

Thank you, yes I can understand. ie If I had sent to one of my own addresses, then it would have been the 0.012 I had needed. So the only way to cut that amount, is to do a transfer which does the cutting..  and then send the exact amount...


But I wonder where the 0.1 number came from? I have 1.8 BTC in that account address I sent from..

[HCP]

Did you read the links? specifically the Coin Analogy one? https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Coin_analogy

When you receive bitcoins in multiple transactions, they don't all merge into one balance, like they would with a bank account. They remain as separate pieces. For instance, say you received:

0.1 BTC
1.0 BTC
0.7 BTC

You now have THREE coins, totalling a value of 1.8 BTC. If you now decide you want to send out 0.012, your wallet will generally (but not always) use the smallest coin it can, that covers the total to send + transaction fee.

So, your wallet picks up the 0.1 BTC coin, and uses that... breaks off a 0.012 piece and a small bit for a fee (0.000853)... and then puts the rest (0.087147 BTC) back in your wallet as change.

You now have:

0.087147 BTC
1.0 BTC
0.7 BTC

If you now wanted to send 0.1... your wallet would mostly likely use the 0.7 BTC coin etc etc...

So, in answer to your question:

But I wonder where the 0.1 number came from? I have 1.8 BTC in that account address I sent from..

At some point, you would have received a transaction that sent 0.1 BTC to your address (or wallet)... so you have a coin worth 0.1 BTC sitting in your wallet, which your wallet decided to use to send out the 0.012.

[eleclondon]

Did you read the links? specifically the Coin Analogy one? https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Coin_analogy

When you receive bitcoins in multiple transactions, they don't all merge into one balance, like they would with a bank account. They remain as separate pieces. For instance, say you received:

0.1 BTC
1.0 BTC
0.7 BTC

You now have THREE coins, totalling a value of 1.8 BTC. If you now decide you want to send out 0.012, your wallet will generally (but not always) use the smallest coin it can, that covers the total to send + transaction fee.

So, your wallet picks up the 0.1 BTC coin, and uses that... breaks off a 0.012 piece and a small bit for a fee (0.000853)... and then puts the rest (0.087147 BTC) back in your wallet as change.

You now have:

0.087147 BTC
1.0 BTC
0.7 BTC

If you now wanted to send 0.1... your wallet would mostly likely use the 0.7 BTC coin etc etc...

So, in answer to your question:

But I wonder where the 0.1 number came from? I have 1.8 BTC in that account address I sent from..

At some point, you would have received a transaction that sent 0.1 BTC to your address (or wallet)... so you have a coin worth 0.1 BTC sitting in your wallet, which your wallet decided to use to send out the 0.012.

Yes I read the link but with your message yes I now understand, thank you!

Yes I bought 0.1BTC a while before. I had been consolidating in all one address, but I'll start using different addresses now.

Thank you again