Library · Crypto, word by word · Transactions and fees
How do I fix a stuck or pending transaction?
A transaction stays pending when the fee offered is too low for validators or miners to pick it soon. It waits in the mempool until it is included, dropped, or replaced by a new transaction from the same account with a higher fee.
What it means for you
On Ethereum-style networks, transactions from one account run in nonce order, so one stuck transaction holds up every later one. Many wallets offer speed up, which resends it with a higher fee, or cancel, which replaces it with an empty transaction using the same nonce; either costs a fee. On Bitcoin, a wallet can bump the fee if the payment signalled replace-by-fee.
How it works
Validators fill blocks with the transactions that pay them the most. On Ethereum the protocol sets a base fee that every transaction must pay, and the priority fee on top is the tip that makes a validator choose yours; a transaction paying only the base fee is valid but unlikely to be included. Because each transaction carries the account's next nonce, a new transaction with the same nonce and a higher fee replaces the pending one, and whichever is included first wins. On Bitcoin the receiver can also speed a payment up with child-pays-for-parent. A transaction never included costs nothing; one included and then failed still paid for its gas.
Sources: ethereum.org: Gas and fees, ethereum.org: Transactions, BIP 125: Opt-in Full Replace-by-Fee Signaling · checked 5 October 2026
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