Electrum wallet fee

[Titiuuu]

Hi guys!

It's my first time ever having an bitcoin wallet and I downloaded Electrum, since ppl said it's the best for beginners. Well I have two guestions.



1) How long does it take until my deposit moves?

As a newbie, I didn't know the point in that fee. First time I made a send, I paid medium fee and it took two days to be marked as "cleared". The second time I paid the minimum fee, I paid the smallest I could. It's been almost 3 complete days and it's STILL "Unconfirmed" phase!! 

In the "Send" tab, there reads "Paid" on 18th but when you go to the "History" tab, there still reads "Unconfirmed".



2) What's the difference in those three options it gives you when paying the fee?

I don't remember what those three options were, "Static" probably was one of them? Anyway, what's the difference in those? You need to choose one when you pay the fee.



Thanks in advance! 

[1715088495]

1715088495

[1715088495]

1715088495

[1715088495]

1715088495

[ranochigo]

1) How long does it take until my deposit moves?

Instantly. It does take sometime before it gets confirmed though. Miners usually prioritize the highest fee/size first and the top 1MB  (ie. next block) is around 100 satoshi/byte and if you've paid the minimum, it would probably not confirm so soon. You can check how much fee you've paid when you right click on the transaction and press View Transaction, should say something about satoshi/byte next to your fees. You can go to https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#0,24h to see roughly how many transactions there are before you. Miners almost always takes the top 1MB of the transactions that you see on the site.

2) What's the difference in those three options it gives you when paying the fee?

I don't remember what those three options were, "Static" probably was one of them? Anyway, what's the difference in those? You need to choose one when you pay the fee.

Static does not take into consideration of the network conditions and you'll probably pay a less than optimal fee if you were to use that. There's mempool which reflects on the actual network conditions, 1MB from the tip means roughly within the next 2 blocks if no one else sends anymore transaction, etc. ETA refers to the number of blocks which you're estimated to get a confirmation, choosing that will give you a relatively more conservative estimate.

If your transaction pays something like 1-3satoshi/byte and you don't want to wait anymore, you can right click it and select Bump Fee or ChildPayForParent, the former allows you to create a replacement transaction with a higher fee and the latter spends the outputs with a higher fee so that your transaction will get confirmed. Do note that either of the options will incur a larger fee and if your fee is still reasonable, then you can consider waiting.

[Abdussamad]

Hi guys!

It's my first time ever having an bitcoin wallet and I downloaded Electrum, since ppl said it's the best for beginners. Well I have two guestions.



1) How long does it take until my deposit moves?

As a newbie, I didn't know the point in that fee. First time I made a send, I paid medium fee and it took two days to be marked as "cleared". The second time I paid the minimum fee, I paid the smallest I could. It's been almost 3 complete days and it's STILL "Unconfirmed" phase!! 

In the "Send" tab, there reads "Paid" on 18th but when you go to the "History" tab, there still reads "Unconfirmed".



2) What's the difference in those three options it gives you when paying the fee?

I don't remember what those three options were, "Static" probably was one of them? Anyway, what's the difference in those? You need to choose one when you pay the fee.



Thanks in advance! 

1) depends on the fee you paid and the market conditions i.e. the fees other people have paid for scarce blockchain space. history tab is what matters btw so you do have an unconfirmed transaction. what you can do is bump the fee:

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/frequently-asked-questions/#my-bitcoin-transaction-is-not-confirming-what-can-i-do

2) see this article about that:

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-manually-set-transaction-fees/

you want to use either eta or mempool. don't use static because it won't react to changes in fee market conditions.

[Titiuuu]

Instantly. It does take sometime before it gets confirmed though. Miners usually prioritize the highest fee/size first and the top 1MB  (ie. next block) is around 100 satoshi/byte and if you've paid the minimum, it would probably not confirm so soon. You can check how much fee you've paid when you right click on the transaction and press View Transaction, should say something about satoshi/byte next to your fees. You can go to https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#0,24h to see roughly how many transactions there are before you. Miners almost always takes the top 1MB of the transactions that you see on the site.

First of all, thanks for the quick reply! I clicked that link, but I don't understand anything from it I'm afraid. There is blue, green and yellow so it's from 0 to 120 about, but what does that mean? Is that 0 to 120 the amount of fee ppl have paid? If so, how can I know how many are ahead of me, cuz the number changes every minute on that chart? I paid fee only 2.4 sat/byte.

Static does not take into consideration of the network conditions and you'll probably pay a less than optimal fee if you were to use that. There's mempool which reflects on the actual network conditions, 1MB from the tip means roughly within the next 2 blocks if no one else sends anymore transaction, etc. ETA refers to the number of blocks which you're estimated to get a confirmation, choosing that will give you a relatively more conservative estimate.

So when I pay the fee next time, I should always choose "ETA", did I understood it right? I rather not pay any extra fee since I've already waited almost three days. I'm just gonna be patient since the money can't just disappear either.

[o_e_l_e_o]

First of all, thanks for the quick reply! I clicked that link, but I don't understand anything from it I'm afraid. There is blue, green and yellow so it's from 0 to 120 about, but what does that mean? Is that 0 to 120 the amount of fee ppl have paid? If so, how can I know how many are ahead of me, cuz the number changes every minute on that chart? I paid fee only 2.4 sat/byte.

The chart you are most interested in on that page is the bottom one entitled "Mempool Size in MB". If you hover your mouse over the very right hand side of the chart, you'll get a nice floating box which tells you how many megabytes of transactions are waiting to be confirmed at any given fee. Since you paid 2.4 sats/vbyte, your transaction is right down at the bottom in the "2+" category, along with 87 MB of other transactions. Since each block will only clear 1 MB of the highest paying transactions from the top of that graph, and a block only comes along every 10 minutes on average, then you are going to be waiting a long time for your transaction to confirm, unfortunately.

So when I pay the fee next time, I should always choose "ETA", did I understood it right?

If I were using Electrum's fee estimator, I would always pick "Mempool" and then choose an appropriate depth in the mempool depending on how much or a hurry I am in - 0.1 MB from the tip if I really need a fast confirmation, 1-2 MB from the tip if I want it confirm within a few hours, 5-10 MB from the tip if I'm not really in a hurry at all (or in this case, I'd probably just wait until the mempool empties entirely so I can make the transaction with the lowest possible fee of 1 sat/vbyte). However, rather than use any automatic fee estimator, I prefer to look at the graph we just talked about and decide for myself where I would like to place my transaction in the mempool.

[Titiuuu]

The chart you are most interested in on that page is the bottom one entitled "Mempool Size in MB". If you hover your mouse over the very right hand side of the chart, you'll get a nice floating box which tells you how many megabytes of transactions are waiting to be confirmed at any given fee. Since you paid 2.4 sats/vbyte, your transaction is right down at the bottom in the "2+" category, along with 87 MB of other transactions. Since each block will only clear 1 MB of the highest paying transactions from the top of that graph, and a block only comes along every 10 minutes on average, then you are going to be waiting a long time for your transaction to confirm, unfortunately.

If I were using Electrum's fee estimator, I would always pick "Mempool" and then choose an appropriate depth in the mempool depending on how much or a hurry I am in - 0.1 MB from the tip if I really need a fast confirmation, 1-2 MB from the tip if I want it confirm within a few hours, 5-10 MB from the tip if I'm not really in a hurry at all (or in this case, I'd probably just wait until the mempool empties entirely so I can make the transaction with the lowest possible fee of 1 sat/vbyte). However, rather than use any automatic fee estimator, I prefer to look at the graph we just talked about and decide for myself where I would like to place my transaction in the mempool.

I right clicked and chose "increase fee" and changed "Static" to "Mempool". Do you know what is the box next to it, there reads "Final"? Should I mark it as final or not? I don't know what it means. 

[o_e_l_e_o]

Do you know what is the box next to it, there reads "Final"? Should I mark it as final or not? I don't know what it means.  

If you leave it unchecked, then you will be able to increase the fee again in the case of your new transaction not confirming in the time frame you want. If you mark it "final", then the new fee you set will be, well, final. Unless you are spending coins to a person or service who has specifically asked you not to enable "RBF/replace by fee", then you can safely leave it unchecked so you can further increase the fee in the future if you want to.

[Titiuuu]

If you leave it unchecked, then you will be able to increase the fee again in the case of your new transaction not confirming in the time frame you want. If you mark it "final", then the new fee you set will be, well, final. Unless you are spending coins to a person or service who has specifically asked you not to enable "RBF/replace by fee", then you can safely leave it unchecked so you can further increase the fee in the future if you want to.

I left it unchecked, but when I clicked "close" and clicked again "view transaction" it's once again the same 2.7 sat/byte. So I once again increased the fee and do I now have to also click "save" ("save transaction offline")? Or does it just take couple of minutes or hours before the fee amount changes?

[Titiuuu]

It was 2.4 sat/byte and I can't even save the new fee. When I click "Save" (Save transaction offline.), it says: "Transaction could not be saved. It conflicts with current history." Then I click "Close" and it's still 2.4... 

"Unconfirmed [rbf, 2.4 sat/byte, 69,71 MB]" reads on the "History" tab. How is it this hard to change a fee? 

[OmegaStarScream]

What happens if I click "Cancel (double-spend)"? It doesn't chance the fee no matter how many times I try so can I cancel it and send it again? If it takes weeks or months with that speed (2.4 sat/byte) I'd rather cancel it and start it again.

I can't seem to understand why the "increase fee" option is not working for you but yes, "Cancel" will basically increase the fees and instead of sending them to the original destination, it will send them back to you.

[Titiuuu]

I can't seem to understand why the "increase fee" option is not working for you but yes, "Cancel" will basically increase the fees and instead of sending them to the original destination, it will send them back to you.

I don't understand it either. Is it just "Increase fee" and then you put the amount (I put over 100 sat/byte) and press ok, right? And then it opens "Transaction" page where you see the new Fee and it gives you options:

Export, Save, Combine, Sign, Broadcast (in grey, can't click on it) and Close.

When I click "Close", the fee is back at 2.4 sat/byte. 

Then if I cancel it, any idea when it will be back at my wallet?

[OmegaStarScream]

I can't seem to understand why the "increase fee" option is not working for you but yes, "Cancel" will basically increase the fees and instead of sending them to the original destination, it will send them back to you.

I don't understand it either. Is it just "Increase fee" and then you put the amount (I put over 100 sat/byte) and press ok, right? And then it opens "Transaction" page where you see the new Fee and it gives you options:

Export, Save, Combine, Sign, Broadcast (in grey, can't click on it) and Close.

When I click "Close", the fee is back at 2.4 sat/byte.  

Then if I cancel it, any idea when it will be back at my wallet?

You're not supposed to close the window. You must first click "Sign" and then "Broadcast" in order for it to work.

As for your second question, then the transaction shouldn't take too long to confirm. See here for an estimation: https://bitcoinfees.net/

[Titiuuu]

You're not supposed to close the window. You must first click "Sign" and then "Broadcast" in order for it to work.

OMG THANK YOU!!!

"Payment sent"

Thank you so much! I even tried that "Sign" and then "Close" lol didn't work. Didn't know I needed to click "Broadcast" after "Sign".

Thank you everybody! Xoxo