If you’ve ever had to make a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain compared with other blockchains, you’d know that the gas fees could be a big deal. While you may barely pay anything on blockchain networks like Solana, or Layer-2 solutions like Polygon, Ethereum gas fees could run into tens or even hundreds of dollars, depending on the transaction type, network congestion, and so on. All of these could add up to a lot of money you could have better invested elsewhere.

If you have ever been in this situation, or are currently in this boat, looking for solutions, worry not. There are ways to avoid paying high Ethereum gas fees and keep some extra bucks in your pocket.

In this article, we'll explore the dynamics of Ethereum gas fees, including factors that affect gas fees and how you can use this knowledge to pay less when possible.

Factors Affecting Ethereum Gas Fees

To understand the way gas fees work on the Ethereum network, we must first understand two components: gas limit and gas price per unit.

Gas fees on the Ethereum network are denominated in the smallest possible unit of Ethereum (gwei), which is approximately equal to 0.000000001 ETH. Before initiating a transaction on the Ethereum network, you can specify the maximum “gas limit” you are willing to reach for the transaction. The product of the gas limit and the unit gas price gives us the gas fee.

For example, if the unit gas price of the Ethereum network was 100 gwei and you chose a gas limit of 30,000 for your transaction, the total gas fee for that transaction would be 100 * 30,000 = 3,000,000 gwei, or 0.003 ETH. Assuming 1 ETH is $1,900, then the gas fee in dollars would be 0.03 * 1,900 = $57.

The unit gas price in gwei is determined by the demand and supply of miners on the Ethereum network. Hence, during times of high network activity, when there is more demand for miners, the unit gas price surges, and when there is low activity, the price reduces. Hence, it is safe to say that you cannot determine the unit gas price; however, you can choose the maximum gas limit you do not want to exceed.

Lastly, the type of transaction you are executing on the blockchain also impacts gas fees. Many times, transactions requiring smart contract calls may require more computational resources to execute; hence, they may require a higher gas limit.

Knowing these factors and their impact is only the first step in keeping Ethereum gas fees in check. Keep reading!

Tips to Avoid High Ethereum Gas Fees

1. Wait For Low Traffic Times To Transact: Based on the information in the previous section, this is perhaps the most obvious tip. High network congestion results in higher miner demand, which in turn leads to high gas prices. Hence, you can monitor the Ethereum network activity via many tools online, such as the Etherscan gas tracker, Eth Gas Now, etc. With this information, you can avoid paying inflated fees, especially if the transaction isn’t urgent.
   
2. Use Layer-2 Solutions: Layer-2 solutions, such as Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism, can help reduce the cost of Ethereum transactions by moving them off the main Ethereum chain, where network congestion is heavy. These sidechains validate the transactions on their own and submit them on the Ethereum main chain later; as a result, they can significantly reduce gas fees. Although not all transactions can be processed with a sidechain; however, if you can, don’t hesitate. It’s a sure way to reduce transaction fees to a minimum.
   
3. Don’t Use Excess Gas Limit: When transacting on non-custodial wallets such as MetaMask, TrustWallet, etc., you have the opportunity to edit the gas fee to pay. However, many people don’t know this, so they just go with the default.
   
   Before confirming your transaction on MetaMask, you have the opportunity to choose between low, market, or aggressive gas fees. The higher you go, the more fees you’ll pay, and the more you intend to pay, the faster miners pick it up from the mempool of transactions.

Even further, you can select the advanced settings to directly input the maximum gas limit you are willing to reach and the maximum priority fee (in gwei) you intend to pay. This will estimate the total fee in Gwei, and you can determine the final fee in ETH or USD, as explained in the previous section.

N.B.: It’s important not to go excessively low in gas limits, as this may cause your transaction to fail.

4. Using Cwallet: Cwallet is a crypto wallet with several automatic features that help you pay the lowest possible gas fees. When you execute a transaction with Cwallet, it automatically sets the gas limit at the exact cost you need for the transaction to pass through and nothing in excess, so that you don’t pay more than needed.

Even better, Cwallet offers gas-free transactions for users within its network, so you can send and receive crypto tokens and NFTs from other Cwallet users without paying a cent in gas fees.

How Cwallet Can Help You Eliminate Gas Fees

Cwallet is a user-friendly crypto wallet that offers several features to ease the process of crypto transactions for all users.

Upon signing up on Cwallet, you would be issued a unique Cwallet ID that allows you to make gas-free transactions with other Cwallet users using their Cwallet IDs.

Hence, irrespective of network congestion or gas prices, you can easily send and receive cryptocurrencies and NFTs from other Cwallet users without incurring any gas fees. Most importantly, Cwallet charges no fees for all of its services, so you need not worry about hidden fees. The service is absolutely free to use.

It only takes a few seconds to create an account, and you can begin to make deposits and withdrawals.

Conclusion

If you didn’t know that you could be in charge of your gas fees previously, now you do. So, the next time you make a transaction, look out for all of these things, and you could save yourself a few bucks in the process.

Also, create a Cwallet account, and perform zero-fee transactions with your unique Cwallet ID. Don’t delay! Sign up Now