Why is my transaction still pending?
Fees, congestion and nonce order — how to tell which one you're facing.
Three causes, and they are distinguishable in about a minute if you paste the transaction hash into a block explorer.
The fee was too low. Your transaction is in the queue while higher-paying ones go first. It will either clear when the network quietens down or eventually be dropped.
The network is congested. Everyone is waiting, not just you. The explorer will show the average fee spiking.
An earlier transaction is blocking it. On networks that number your transactions in order, one stuck at the front holds up everything behind it, however generous their fees.
Most wallets offer a way to resend the same transaction with a higher fee, which fixes the first and third cases. Some also let you cancel a pending transaction by replacing it with an empty one to yourself.
One thing worth knowing before you panic: a pending transaction has not left your wallet in any final sense. The funds are committed, not gone, and if the transaction is dropped they become spendable again.
Separately, if the transaction has confirmed but the money is not in your exchange account, that is not a stuck transaction. Exchanges wait for a number of confirmations before crediting a deposit, and that wait is policy rather than a fault. The page on fees and confirmations covers both.
Last checked 19 Oct 2026.