Fixing Stuck Pending Transactions in Your Wallet

How to ‘unstuck’ any pending transactions that are stuck in your wallet.

Every once in a blue moon there can be a hiccup in the transaction in your wallet that the cancel button just can't fix. This walkthrough will essentially wipe the pending transaction by sending a new transaction that replaces the order by resetting the pipeline.

1. Enable Custome Transaction Nonce

   1. Open the MetaMask plugin on your browser

   2. Click the multcolored circle in the upper right of the popup. Usually opposite of the fox head icon

3. Select Settings

4. Select Advanced

5. Scroll to Advanced gas controls and make sure the toggle is in the on position

6. Still in the advanced section, go to customize transaction nonce and make sure this is toggled on too

2. Find the Stuck Transaction

We need to find the stuck transaction and remember the nonce. The nonce is an identifier that we will be using later

1. Back at the main Metamask screen select the Activity tab and find the token that is stuck in the transaction.

2. Look for the nonce and note the number

Note: the screenshot is not of a stuck pending transaction but the steps and nonce information will be the same

3. Overwrite the Stuck Transaction

Essentially we will be making a new transaction to replace the stuck transaction and we will put in the same nonce as the old transaction

1. Create a new transaction with a higher gas fee. In the MetaMask popup select edit for the estimated gas fee.

Remember the gas fee increases the priority of the transaction and will ensure that this nonce is accepted over the old stuck transaction in your wallet.

2. On the confirmation screen ensure the gas fee has really been increased

3. Find the custom nonce entry and put in the nonce we noted earlier.

4. Click Confirm

5. The transaction should be accepted. Go to the activity section of your MetaMask wallet to make sure it went through.

Remember that transactions are fast but not instantaneous. Be patient and give the transaction time to process. You can increase the gas fee to increase its priority if you want to. You don't need to worry about a duplicate transaction because no wallet can process the same nonce identifier twice.