Unconfirmed parent

[Hasslong]

Hi I am trying to transact an I got a message unconfirmed parent with yellow icon , what does it mea

[1714603237]

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[TryNinja]

It means the coins you're trying to spend haven't been confirmed yet in the first place. Kinda like trying to spend your bank's account money before you actually receive your salary.

You can use a high fee so miners include both transactions ("your salary payment" and your "spending") at once, or you can just wait until the parent transaction is confirmed, and then yours can also be (assuming the fee is enough).

The first option is called Child-Pay-For-Parent (CPFP)

[Charles-Tim]

If someone sent you bitcoin and the transaction has not been confirmed (at least having 1 confirmation), and you want to spend the coin, the transaction you make or about to make has unconfirmed (parent) transaction which is the coin that someone sent to you that has not been confirmed. But on some wallets (like Electrum), you will be able to spend the coin, but the parent transaction will first get confirmed or be included in the same block the child transaction would be included so that both are confirmed at once.

Parent transaction is the coin with unconfirmed transaction that you spent that has not yet been confirmed.
The child transaction is the transaction you make by spending the unconfirmed (parent) transaction.

[Zaguru12]

The yellow icon means that parent transaction which the input is coming fromis yet to be confirmed. This could probably be as a result of low transaction fee you set for the parent transaction. You need to set a high transaction fee that would be able to confirm both.

Other colors you might encounter on electrum are

3 gray gears for unconfirmed transactions

Small Blue computer for transactions that were not broadcasted and needed to be broadcasted

[Findingnemo]

But on some wallets (like Electrum), you will be able to spend the coin, but the parent transaction will first get confirmed or be included in the same block the child transaction would be included so that both are confirmed at once.

If I am not wrong the feature is only available on Electrum Android not on PC.

The setting can be found click clicking the green icon top right corner=> preference => Wallet behaviour => 'enable' Spend unconfirmed

OP, you can also try CPFP if the TX fee used for the transaction is low and you want your transaction to be spend immediately.

[Charles-Tim]

But on some wallets (like Electrum), you will be able to spend the coin, but the parent transaction will first get confirmed or be included in the same block the child transaction would be included so that both are confirmed at once.

If I am not wrong the feature is only available on Electrum Android not on PC.

The setting can be found click clicking the green icon top right corner=> preference => Wallet behaviour => 'enable' Spend unconfirmed

OP, you can also try CPFP if the TX fee used for the transaction is low and you want your transaction to be spend immediately.

You are the one that got the correct answer to the OP question.

@Hasslong
Follow Findingnemo guide to enable 'spend confirmed'. It is enabled by default, but you disabled it, which you might not know until now.

Know that if the parent transaction is not confirmed, your transaction (child transaction) will not be confirmed unless you use higher fee that is enough to get both child and parent transactions confirmed.

[Zaguru12]

But on some wallets (like Electrum), you will be able to spend the coin, but the parent transaction will first get confirmed or be included in the same block the child transaction would be included so that both are confirmed at once.

If I am not wrong the feature is only available on Electrum Android not on PC.

The setting can be found click clicking the green icon top right corner=> preference => Wallet behaviour => 'enable' Spend unconfirmed

Most of all these advance features are no longer available on the direct preference tab on the latest electrum version. You can have them by going through clicking pay then preview to see the other advance icons

[hosseinimr93]

If I am not wrong the feature is only available on Electrum Android not on PC.

In the desktop version, you can spend unconfirmed coins and the option to enable "Spend only confirmed coins" was removed from "Preferences" in the version 4.4.0.
This means that OP should be able to spend unconfirmed coins.

From my understanding, OP has made the transaction using unconfirmed coins and is now referring to "Unconfirmed Parent" status displayed in history tab.

[khaled0111]

In the desktop version, you can spend unconfirmed coins and the option to enable "Spend only confirmed coins" was removed in the version 4.4.0.
This means that OP should be able to spend unconfirmed coins.

I can confirm this. I am using version 4.4.6 and the "Spend unconfirmed" is still there but switching it on and off doesn't change anything. Whether spend unconfirmed is turned on or off if, for example, you chose to spend the max amount, the whole amount will be sent including unconfirmed coins.

[hosseinimr93]

I can confirm this. I am using version 4.4.6 and the "Spend unconfirmed" is still there but switching it on and off doesn't change anything.

You can see a "spend only confirmed coins" option, if you click on the button at top right corner of the window that appears after you click on "pay". Is this the option you are talking about?
If you check the "spend only confirmed coins" option, your transaction wouldn't use unconfirmed coins.