Track Gas Prices With Ethereum Gas Tracker

In the top right corner of our browser extension wallet home screen, you'll find a gas station icon. Clicking on it will display the low, medium, and high transaction speeds and their corresponding price estimations.

To secure the lowest gas prices for your Ethereum transactions, follow these steps:

Time your transactions carefully: By timing your transactions during periods of lower network congestion, you can take advantage of reduced gas fees. As transaction demand fluctuates, gas fees will follow suit, so scheduling your transactions during off-peak hours can help you save on fees.

Use BlockWallet's built-in Ethereum Gas Tracker: It is a handy tool that allows you to monitor gas fees in real-time. By keeping an eye on the gas tracker, you can better understand the current fee landscape and make informed decisions on when to transact.

Adjust gas settings in your wallet: BlockWallet provides users with the option to adjust their gas settings, offering slow, medium, and fast transaction speeds, each with corresponding fees. By selecting a slower transaction speed during periods of lower network congestion, you can save on gas fees without significantly impacting the transaction time. Furthermore, BlockWallet allows you to set any of these speed settings as your default, so you can consistently prioritize either lower fees or faster transaction times based on your preferences.

If a transaction fails to execute on the Ethereum blockchain network, the associated gas fees will not be refunded. When an Ethereum transaction is broadcast, network nodes process it and, if valid, include it in a block. However, if the transaction is invalid, it will not be included in a block, and the execution will fail. In this scenario, the gas fees associated with the transaction are not returned to the sender.

For users of BlockWallet, consider enabling the Flashbots Protect feature, which sends your transaction to a private mempool. With Flashbots Protect, your transactions are only mined if they do not include any reverts, so you don't pay for failed transactions.

Think of the Ethereum blockhain network as a computer capable of performing tasks like processing transactions or running smart contracts. These tasks require computational effort, and the network charges miners a fee for this effort, known as the "gas fee" or "transaction fee."

ETH gas prices depend on the overall activity on the Ethereum blockchain network. The network automatically adjusts the base gas price based on data about the supply and demand for computational resources. If more transactions are trying to be included in a block than can fit, the network increases the base gas price to reduce the number of submitted transactions. Conversely, if fewer transactions are trying to be included than can fit, the network decreases the base gas price to encourage more submissions.

There's no maximum amount for paid Ethereum gas fees. The fee you pay depends on the complexity of your transaction, the network's demand for computational resources, and the gas price you're willing to pay.

Several factors contribute to high Ethereum transaction fees:

1. Network congestion: Busy networks with many transactions competing for space in the next block to be mined may require users to increase their gas fees for timely inclusion.

2. Limited block space: Ethereum has limited block space for transactions. If the number of transactions exceeds the available block space, competition for space leads to higher ETH gas fees.

3. High demand for certain smart contracts: Complex smart contracts or those that interact with other contracts may require more computational effort and have higher ETH gas fees.

4. Market forces: Supply and demand influence the price of gas (measured in Gwei). If there is high demand for Ethereum transactions and limited gas supply, gas prices may increase.

Ethereum transaction fees can fluctuate over time and may drop if transaction demand decreases or rise as the network becomes less congested.

The Ethereum Merge marked a significant milestone in the network's transition to Proof-of-Stake, which facilitated a more decentralized ecosystem and introduced new actors, such as block builders and MEV relayers. However, The Merge did not directly lower gas fees. Gas fees have long been a pressing issue for Ethereum due to the surge of DeFi and NFT activity since 2020, which led to increased transaction volumes and network congestion. Although The Merge did not directly address gas fees, it set the stage for future improvements in this area.

To lower gas fees, Ethereum is focusing on a roadmap that includes several upgrades aimed at improving scalability and optimizing network resources. One major step toward achieving this goal is the implementation of sharding, a network upgrade planned for 2023. Sharding will divide Ethereum into "shard chains" that share the load, reduce congestion, and increase transaction throughput. Moreover, Ethereum's "rollup centric" roadmap will work in tandem with sharding, allowing layer 2 ecosystems to thrive and lower gas fees for regular users. Layer 1 will focus on decentralization, while layer 2 chains provide base layer security with minimal transaction fees. Ethereum's post-Merge development roadmap also includes stages such as The Surge, The Verge, The Purge, and The Splurge to address transaction times, costs, network congestion, and storage optimization. These efforts demonstrate the Ethereum development community's commitment to addressing gas fee concerns and enhancing the overall user experience.

The Ethereum gas limit is the maximum amount of gas fee a user designates to pay for a specific transaction on the Ethereum blockchain.

A priority fee is an optional fee users can include in their Ethereum transactions to increase the likelihood of faster processing. Using a priority gas fee is not required and is recommended only for users who need quick processing. The decision to use a priority fee depends on individual users' specific needs and priorities.

When sending a transaction on the Ethereum network, you need to specify the payment for the computational effort required to process your transaction. This payment, called "Gwei," is akin to a currency. Gwei is a unit of Ethereum's currency, ether, and is used to measure the value transferred or the computational effort used on the Ethereum network. One Gwei equals 0.000000001 ether, a very small amount. Using Gwei enables very small amounts of ether to be used for transactions, making the network more efficient.