How to Override a Stuck Ethereum Transaction

As gas prices can rise after a transaction, your transaction may be stuck. However, there is a way to override that transaction and continue using Ethereum!

What is a Stuck Ethereum Transaction?

A stuck Ethereum transaction is when a transaction made is pending and the confirmation time linked with that transaction continue to rise. That occurs when the ‘gas’ for that transaction was set lower than what is required.

To check whether your transaction is stuck, you need to check Etherscan and input your wallet address (only your visible key, it should start with ‘0x’!) to see your transactions.

After doing this, the transactions made from your Ethereum wallet will be on display, with your most recent at the top. From there, click on the ‘TxN Hash’ associated with your most recent transaction. If the transaction is ‘stuck’, then the confirmation time will continue to increase.

How to Override the Stuck Transaction?

To override a transaction, it will require a new transaction to override the ‘nonce’ of the previous transaction. A ‘nonce’ in Ethereum is the number relating to a transaction in your wallet. The ‘nonce’ count increases by one for every complete transaction and starts at 0. For example, if my wallet has made 10 transactions, then the ‘nonce’ would be 9.

I am using MetaMask for this example, but other Ethereum wallets will have similar steps.

First, open your MetaMask Wallet. After opening your wallet, there should be a coloured circle in the top right, click that.

Afterwards, go to, ‘settings’ and from there, advanced settings.

You should be able to see the option ‘Customize transaction nonce’, that should be turned from off to on.

What this now allows you to do is customise the ‘nonce’ when making a transaction. If your 10th transaction is stuck, to override that transaction, rather than making the 11th transaction for that also to be stuck, you change the nonce from 10 to 9.

What you need to do now is visit Etherscan once again and click on your last transaction. You can find your ‘nonce’ on that page, if you can’t it should be in the advanced options. Make a note of this number, that’s what you’re going to use next!

Go back to your MetaMask and press ‘send’ to send a transaction. From there, enter in your wallets address.

Make sure the amount is 0, you’re sending a transaction to yourself, not anyone else! Ensure that the gas fee is ‘high’. You can always check Etherscan Gas Tracker to check the gwei. If the gwei for your transaction is lower than what Etherescan recommends, customise the gas to the number suggested.

Afterwards, press next and you should see an option to customise your nonce. Enter the number you have written down from earlier in there and confirm the transaction.

There you go, you have managed to override a stuck transaction!

Final Remarks

I hope that I have managed to help you out with your stuck transaction. Knowing how to override a stuck transaction can be very useful when gas is on the rise and you want to make your next move in the market!

If you have any questions, please comment below this post or connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilsonedwardc/

Legal Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. The advice here given is not financial advice even though my excitement might make it look like such.

For The Curious Mind

Nothing to add for this article. Short and sweet!