How to Cancel or rеplace a Transaction in Ethereum?

How to Cancel or rеplace a Transaction in Ethereum?

Sometimes a transaction in the Ethereum network remains unconfirmed for a long time — this is usually due to a low fee. Such a transaction stays in “pending” status and is not included in the blockchain. Fortunately, Ethereum allows you to cancel or rеplace an unconfirmed transaction. In this article, we’ll explain how to do this using the rеplace by Fee mechanism, what nonce is, and how to avoid such delays in the future.

What is rеplace by Fee?

rеplace by Fee (RBF) is a method to rеplace an unconfirmed transaction with a new one, offering a higher fee to speed up processing. This method works in networks where the transaction hasn’t been included in a block yet.

In Ethereum, every transaction has a unique number called a nonce, which defines its order. If you send a new transaction with the same nonce and a higher fee, miners will choose the new one and ignore the old one.

How to Speed Up an Ethereum Transaction?

1. Open your wallet (e.g., MetaMask, MEW).
2. Create a new transaction to the same address and amount (or a different one).
3. Ensure the nonce matches the previous transaction.
4. Increase the Gas Price by at least 10 GWEI compared to the previous transaction.
5. Keep the default Gas Limit (usually 21000 for ETH, 100000+ for tokens).
6. Send the transaction and wait for confirmation.

If done correctly, miners will confirm the new transaction and ignore the old one. You can check the status at etherscan.io.

How to Cancel a Transaction in Ethereum?

To cancel an unconfirmed transaction, you can send 0 ETH to your own address with the same nonce and a higher fee.

1. Check your transaction status at Etherscan or Ethplorer.
2. If the status is Pending, you can try to cancel it.
3. Open your wallet and create a new transaction:
• Recipient: your own address.
• Amount: 0 ETH.
• Nonce: the same as the old transaction.
• Gas Price: higher than the old transaction.
4. Send the transaction and wait for confirmation.

If the new transaction is confirmed first, the old one will be rejected.

Why Doesn’t Ethereum Support Child Pays for Parent?

Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum doesn’t support the Child Pays for Parent mechanism. Here, only transaction replacement via nonce works. Two transactions with the same nonce cannot be included in a block at the same time — miners choose the more profitable one.

Useful Tips for Ethereum Users:

• Set an up-to-date Gas Price to avoid unnecessary delays.
• Use Gas Tracker to check the recommended price.
• For urgent transactions, you can always increase the Gas Price manually.
• If a transaction is stuck — act quickly: rеplace or cancel it.

AlwaysMoney.org cares about the security and speed of your transactions. If you have questions about working with Ethereum, our [url=https://alwaysmoney.org/support]support[/url] team is always ready to help!