Each transaction is a code generated based on where the coins came from and where they are going. Essentially, a transaction is a list of addresses involved, and the more addresses there are, the more the transaction “weighs” in bytes because the code becomes longer.
For example, you received 2 BTC from us, 1 BTC from an advertiser, and 0.5 BTC from a subscriber. If you want to send 3.2 BTC to your friend, five addresses will be involved in the transaction.
You can calculate the weight of such a transaction.
- Each address from which your coins were received — approximately 148 bytes.
- Each address to which coins are sent — approximately 34 bytes.
- Each transaction takes up an additional ±10 bytes, regardless of the number of addresses or the transfer amount.
Now let’s calculate. There are three addresses from which coins participating in the transaction were received: ours, the advertiser’s, and the subscriber’s. There are two addresses to which the coins will be sent: your friend and yourself.
Weight = 148*3 + 34*2 + 10 = 522 bytes
Once you send the transaction to the network, it enters the mempool — the transaction queue. You can monitor the queue in real time here. You can also track the size of the pool on this chart here.
The current block size in the Bitcoin network is 1 megabyte. Miners take approximately ±10 minutes to “mine” one block, as coded. Let’s continue. Our hypothetical transaction weighs 522 bytes, and there are approximately 1,000,000 bytes in one megabyte. Dividing 1,000,000 by 522 gives us 1915. This means only 1915 such transactions can be processed in ten minutes. As you can imagine, this is very few for a global super currency. Most transactions look like this:
One address sends to two addresses, which naturally weighs less. However, there are also large transactions that take up several kilobytes. On average, only 10-15 transactions are processed per second.
Now you know that the number of transactions per unit of time is heavily limited by block size. Miners cannot inсlude all transactions in the block. To prioritize transactions, they charge a fee — those who pay more are processed first. Essentially, it’s an auction. When the mempool is overloaded, users are willing to pay more to speed up their transaction, forcing others to pay higher fees to jump the queue.
To calculate the optimal fee size, visit bitaps.com and check the recommended fee. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see three numbers in different colors.
To calculate the Bitcoin transfer fee, multiply the chosen satoshi value by 1000 (to convert from bytes to kilobytes) and divide by 100,000,000 (to convert satoshi to Bitcoin, as 1 satoshi = 1/100,000,000 BTC). Alternatively, divide the satoshi number from the site by 100,000. Enter the resulting number in the “fee” field when sending a new transaction.
Example: If the blue number is 250 satoshi/byte, the recommended fee is 250,000 satoshi or 0.00250000 BTC.
The recommended network fee is calculated based on a statistical analysis of the average network fees over the last 36 blocks. Its size changes in real time, depending on fee competition within the blockchain network.
Bitaps provides three fee options:
- Blue. High priority ensures a high chance of inclusion in the next block.
- Green. Medium priority allows for confirmation within the next 1-3 blocks.
- Gray. Low priority enables confirmation within one of the next six blocks.
If you specify a lower fee, you’ll have to wait longer.
These calculations are necessary if your wallet allows you to set the fee manually. For example, in Electrum, you can see the transaction weight and specify the fee yourself. However, most wallets calculate this automatically. In some cases, the fee is fixed, while in others, it changes based on mempool load.
If you want to control the cost and speed, use wallets that allow manual adjustments.
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