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How to speed up or cancel a pending transaction

Written By: Mr. GasMan

A stuck Ethereum transaction in MetaMask typically occurs when the gas fee is too low to incentivize miners to process the transaction.

Here’s how to fix it:

Option 1: Speed Up the Transaction

Open MetaMask:
- Go to the transaction that is stuck in the “Activity” tab.
Click “Speed Up”:
- This lets you resend the same transaction with a higher gas fee.
- Adjust the gas fee (choose a higher priority fee to ensure quick processing).
Confirm:
- Approve the changes and wait for the transaction to process.

Option 2: Cancel the Transaction

Open MetaMask:
- Locate the stuck transaction in the “Activity” tab.
Click “Cancel”:
- If available, this option allows you to send a 0 ETH transaction to overwrite the pending one.
- A small gas fee is required for the cancellation.
Confirm:
- Approve the cancellation and wait for the network to process it.

Option 3: Manually Replace the Transaction

If the “Speed Up” or “Cancel” options are unavailable, you can manually replace the transaction:

Find the Transaction’s Nonce:
- Open MetaMask and click on the stuck transaction.
- Note the “Nonce” value (each transaction has a unique number assigned by the wallet).
Enable Custom Nonce:
- In MetaMask, go to Settings → Advanced → Enable “Customize transaction nonce.”
Send a New Transaction:
- Create a new transaction (e.g., send 0 ETH to your own wallet address).
- Use the same Nonce as the stuck transaction.
- Set a Higher Gas Fee to ensure it gets mined quickly.
Confirm:
- Approve and send the transaction.
- The new transaction will replace the stuck one.

Check the Transaction Status

Use Etherscan:
- Copy your wallet address and paste it into Etherscan.io.
- Monitor the status of your transactions.

Prevent Stuck Transactions in the Future Use recommended gas fees from MetaMask or Gas Tracker. Avoid setting gas fees too low during periods of high network congestion. If none of the above steps resolve the issue, the stuck transaction will remain pending until miners disregard it (this could take hours or days). After that, you can retry the transaction.