Insufficient Gas, Transaction Failed? A Detailed Guide to Common Issues and Solutions at Gate Gas Stations

Gas fees, an unavoidable concept in cryptocurrency trading, often serve as the “invisible killer” that hampers smooth transactions. Especially during network congestion periods, users may find their transactions delayed or even fail outright due to improper Gas settings.

This is particularly true for contract interactions, NFT minting, or complex DeFi operations, where underestimating Gas fees frequently leads to transaction failures.

What is Gas Fee? From Concept to Practical Application

Blockchain transactions are not as simple as traditional bank transfers. Every on-chain operation, whether a straightforward transfer or complex smart contract interaction, requires validation nodes in the network to consume computational resources to execute and verify.

Gas fee is the amount users pay for these computational resources.

Calculating Gas fee is relatively straightforward. It mainly consists of two parts: Base Fee and Priority Fee (also called “tip”). The total Gas fee set by the user = Gas Limit × (Base Fee + Priority Fee).

Different blockchain networks have varying Gas fee levels and pricing units. Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks price in ETH, BNB Chain uses BNB, and Polygon uses POL (formerly MATIC) as its Gas token.

Why Are Gas Fees So Volatile?

The fundamental determinant of Gas fees is the supply and demand for network block space. Each blockchain block can be viewed as a limited container that can only hold a certain number of transactions (determined by the block Gas cap).

When many users initiate transactions simultaneously, block space becomes scarce. Users bid up Gas prices (mainly the Priority Fee) to “auction” for priority processing by validators, causing Gas fees to spike.

From a time perspective, Gas fees typically peak during European and American working hours (midday to evening UTC) and drop during Asian early morning hours (midnight to dawn UTC). Transaction costs are usually lower on weekends compared to weekdays.

Market hot events such as large NFT mintings, popular DeFi protocol launches, or airdrops can cause sharp increases in Gas fees within a short period. Understanding these patterns helps users choose optimal times for transactions and avoid unnecessary costs.

Typical Failures Caused by Improper Gas Settings

In practice, transaction failures due to Gas-related misconfigurations can take various forms, each with different causes and solutions.

The most common issue is setting the Gas price too low. If users set a Gas price (especially the Priority Fee) significantly below the current network average, validators lack motivation to include the transaction in a block. The transaction remains pending for a long time and may eventually fail due to timeout.

Another common problem is insufficient Gas Limit. Gas Limit is an estimate of the maximum computational resources a transaction might consume. If the actual Gas needed exceeds the set Gas Limit, the transaction will fail after consuming all the allocated Gas, but the Gas spent will not be refunded.

It’s especially important to note that when using certain blockchain wallets (including Gate Web3 Wallet), if the wallet’s balance of the network’s Gas token is insufficient, the transaction confirmation button may be grayed out and unclickable, even if other assets are available.

Complex smart contract interactions, especially multi-step DeFi transactions, often require more Gas than users anticipate. These transactions may involve multiple contract calls and state updates, each consuming additional Gas.

Example Operation: How to Resolve Insufficient Gas in Gate Wallet

When performing transactions in Gate Web3 Wallet and encountering insufficient Gas warnings, the wallet provides an intuitive solution. If the Gas balance is low, the top of the app interface will display a [Deposit] button, guiding users to add more Gas.

For users using browser extensions, the bottom of the interface will show a [Recharge] button, allowing them to scan a QR code or transfer to a specified address to add Gas tokens. After recharging, they can proceed with the transaction.

When topping up Gas, users should confirm that they are depositing to the correct network and address. Mistakenly sending ETH to a BNB Chain address or POL to the Ethereum mainnet is a common error that can make asset recovery difficult.

A practical tip is to reserve a small amount of Gas tokens in your wallet before major transactions as “backup funds.” This ensures that even during sudden network congestion or Gas fee surges, transactions can still be executed smoothly.

Cross-Chain Gas Fee Cost Comparison and Strategy Selection

Different blockchain networks have significantly different Gas fee structures. Understanding these differences helps users choose the most cost-effective network based on their transaction needs.

Ethereum mainnet is renowned for its security and rich ecosystem, but Gas fees are the highest, typically costing between $3 and $30 per transaction. BNB Chain, an EVM-compatible chain, has an average fee of only about $0.04, making it a practical choice for cost-sensitive users.

Solana employs a different architecture from EVM chains, capable of processing over 65,000 transactions per second theoretically, with transaction fees often below $0.01. However, its network stability still has room for improvement.

Emerging high-performance blockchains like Sui, leveraging parallel execution engines, can reach up to 297,000 TPS with confirmation times under 500 milliseconds, offering new options for high-frequency trading scenarios.

Practical Gas Fee Optimization Strategies

Choosing the right timing for transactions is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce Gas costs. Monitoring Gas fee prediction tools and avoiding peak network periods (usually European and American working hours) can significantly lower costs.

For non-urgent transactions, consider using transaction acceleration services or canceling pending transactions. Most wallets allow users to replace or cancel a pending transaction by sending a new one with higher Gas fees.

Gas tokens (such as GST1, GST2) are specialized tools that let users “mint” tokens when Gas prices are low and “burn” them for refunds when prices are high, hedging against Gas fee volatility. However, with Ethereum network upgrades, these tools may gradually become obsolete.

Long-term, utilizing Layer 2 solutions (like Arbitrum, Optimism) or sidechains (like Polygon) is a sustainable way to lower transaction costs. These networks process many transactions off-chain and only submit final results to the mainnet, greatly reducing user costs.

Developers can also optimize smart contract design by reducing storage use, batching variables efficiently, and choosing high-performance data types to lower Gas consumption, ultimately benefiting end users.

Summary

By 2026, blockchain transactions are no longer just a technical matter but also a cost optimization strategy. Users are shifting from passively paying high Gas fees to intelligently choosing execution paths based on transaction urgency, amount, and network conditions.

Behind this shift are platforms like Gate simplifying complex Gas mechanisms into easy clicks, developers continuously optimizing smart contract code, and multi-chain ecosystems offering users diverse options.