What to Do About Stuck Transactions Inside Your Metamask Wallet

When sending funds via Metamask, you may occasionally find your transactions stuck. This means that the funds remain on hold, i.e. the transaction is not completed in a timely manner.

The reasons why you may come across stuck transactions in Metamask are aplenty. 

The gas limit that you specify for transactions may be too low in the current state of the network. Alternatively, you may simply run out of native tokens to cover the gas fees. Finally, the funds get stuck when you try sending two or more transactions from the same address simultaneously.

There are a few ways to resolve this problem. In this article, we are going to give a few guides on how you can fix pending transactions.

Replace Stuck Transactions in Metamask

First, you can create a new transaction that will replace the old one. Here’s how to do that:

1. Enable custom transaction Nonce

In the Metamask, go to Settings - Advanced. Find “Gas controls” and “Custom Transaction Nonces” and toggle both of them on.

2. Open the stuck transaction

Return to the start menu in Metamask, find the stuck transaction, and open it to see more details. Check the Nonce entry and remember this number.

3. Overwrite the stuck transaction

Now you can create a new transaction to replace the one that got stuck. When sending funds anew, make sure that you specify a higher fee. Since EthGasStation.info stopped operating a while ago, you may refer to other sources such as Ycharts to estimate the current gas fee.

When confirming the new transaction, enter the number that you noted in the previous step in the “Custom nonce” field.

If the transaction remains stuck, repeat these steps again but increase the fee even more this time.

Cancel Stuck Transactions

You may change your mind and decide to cancel the stuck transaction in Metamask altogether. 

To do that, repeat the steps mentioned in the previous section but specify a zero value when creating a new transaction. This will help you replace the stuck transaction with a new one without spending any funds.

If you have many stuck transactions in your Metamask, it’s important to cancel them in the right order. Start with the transaction that has the lowest nonce and continue in the ascending order.

Speed up the Transaction

Metamask provides a native solution to push stuck transactions. You may find the “Speed up” button that will help you do that right in its interface near the pending transaction.

By clicking on this button, you simply resubmit the same operation with the same nonce. Just the same, be careful to specify a higher gas price so as not to get stuck again.

Reset your account

Finally, when dealing with stuck transactions in Metamask, you may reset your account. 

Note that in addition to pending transactions, this method also wipes off all your other transaction history which may not always be a desirable outcome. Therefore, try this method last if nothing else works for you.

In your Metamask, go to Settings -> Advanced and scroll down until the “Clear activity” section. Press on the “Clear activity tab” button and confirm the action in the pop-up window.