Transaction fees & speed

Fees selection strategy for transactions

When creating a transaction, for most currencies you need to select a transaction speed (See below for exceptions). The selected speed will determine the final fees. At this stage, the exact amount is unknown so only the total max fees is displayed. That is the highest amount you will pay for the transaction to be approved. The fee can be lower but will never go above that amount.

Note: Choosing a normal speed may result in longer confirmation times, potentially taking several days.

The final fee is determined and applied only after the transaction has received its final approval from the last Operator.

Ethereum

For Ethereum and ERC20 transactions, you can select the transaction speed and set a maximum gas price. To account for potential gas price fluctuations between transaction creation and final submission (after all approvals), the platform automatically applies a 100% buffer to the max gas price in the recommended path. This helps ensure successful execution.

If you prefer full control and want to remove the buffer, you can switch to custom mode and manually set the gas price and gas limit (see Custom fees).

Note for Direct Access EVM Accounts: Only one estimated speed is available, but you can still switch to custom mode if needed.

Polkadot

Polkadot transactions do not use processing speed options. Fees are fixed and determined by the network, so users cannot adjust them manually.

Solana & SPL tokens

Solana & SPL tokens transactions do not use speed options but have optional priority fees.

Priority fees are optional extra fees added to Solana transactions to increase their chances of being included in a block. They are paid in addition to the base transaction fee. Using a priority fee helps ensure your transaction is processed quickly, especially when the network is busy. Transactions without priority fees may be delayed or dropped during congestion. Note: the priority fees and buffer will only be used if necessary

Solana & SPL token transaction recommended fees

XRP additional field

Enter the recipient's Destination tag or select one from the drop-down list if a whitelist has been linked to the account.

XLM additional field

(optional) Select the recipient's Memo type from the drop-down list and enter the Memo. A slow speed is selected by default for XLM transactions. This is to ensure you never pay more than what the network requires when creating the request.

Total max fees

When a transaction request is created, the system calculates an estimated maximum total fee. It may vary depending on the crypto asset & speed selected, the size of the transaction, and the state of the network.

Bitcoin

speed	Network fees	Max fees
Slow	Fees to confirm in 6 blocks	+ 50%
Medium	Fees to confirm in 3 blocks	+ 50%
Fast	Fees to confirm in 1 blocks	+ 50%

Ethereum

speed	Network fees	Max fees
Slow	Fee amount when creating the transaction request	+ 100% on the gas price
Medium	Fee amount when creating the transaction request	+ 100% on the gas price
Fast	Fee amount when creating the transaction request	+ 100% on the gas price

Ethereum (ETH) transaction fees are based on two components:

• Gas price: A variable amount that changes frequently based on network demand.

• Gas limit: A standardized value representing the maximum computational effort required.

Because the gas price can fluctuate between the time a transaction is created and when it’s finally submitted (after all approvals), the platform automatically applies a 100% buffer to the gas price for ETH and ERC20 transactions. This helps ensure the transaction succeeds when broadcasted.

Max Fees = Gas Limit × (Gas Price + 100% Buffer)

It’s important to understand the difference between gas price and max gas price:

• The gas price is what you actually pay to get your transaction confirmed within a desired time frame.

• The max gas price is a safety cap — not necessarily the final amount you'll pay — used to increase the likelihood of successful broadcasting.

Want full control? You can disable the buffer by switching to custom mode, where you can manually set the gas price and gas limit.

Polkadot

Fees are fixed and determined by the network.

XRP

Refer to the XRP ledger for additional information.

speed	Network fees	Max fees
Slow	10 drops	+ 50%
Medium	10 drops + load cost	+ 50%
Fast	10 drops + (load cost + open ledger cost) *1.5	+ 50%

Tezos

speed	Network fees	Max fees
Slow	Initial Fee*75%	+ 50%
Medium	Initial Fee: standard network fee level estimated for the transaction’s storage & gas	+ 50%
Fast	Initial Fee*125%	+ 50%

Solana & SPL tokens

The total estimated fees on Solana network includes the estimated base fee plus the priority fee plus the (default) Ledger 100% buffer.

Priority fees are optional extra fees added to Solana transactions to increase their chances of being included in a block. They are paid in addition to the base transaction fee. Using a priority fee helps ensure your transaction is processed quickly, especially when the network is busy. Transactions without priority fees may be delayed or dropped during congestion. Note: the priority fees and buffer will only be used if necessary

Solana & SPL token transaction recommended fees

Custom fees

This feature is available for Bitcoin, Ethereum, ERC20 tokens, XRP, Solana, and SPL token transactions.

• Bitcoin, Ethereum, ERC20, and XRP: You can set a maximum fee you're willing to pay by enabling the Custom toggle. This helps you control costs, but keep in mind that setting the fee too low may delay confirmation.

• Solana and SPL tokens: You can set priority fees by enabling the Custom toggle to increase the likelihood of your transaction being processed.

How transaction fees are handled at broadcast time

Once the final approval for a transaction request is collected, the transaction is created and immediately broadcasted to the network. At this point, the fees are recalculated and compared to the maximum fees set during request creation:

• If the recalculated fees are lower than the max fees, the transaction is sent with the lower amount. The unused portion of the max fees becomes available again in your account.

• If the recalculated fees are higher than the max fees, the transaction is still sent, but only up to the max fee amount. You will never be charged more than what was initially specified. Our fee estimation method is designed to prevent this situation from occurring.

Example:

1. Kathy Sanchez creates an Ethereum transaction request at 1:00 PM with a "fast" speed setting. The estimated maximum fee is ETH 0.005.

2. At 7:00 PM, after all approvals are completed, the transaction is broadcasted. The system recalculates the fast-speed fee at that time and determines it to be ETH 0.003.

3. Since this is below the max fee, the transaction is sent using ETH 0.003, and the remaining ETH 0.002 is released back to the account.

4. Had the recalculated fee been higher than ETH 0.005, the transaction would still go through, but only ETH 0.005 would be used.

You can view the final fee in the Transaction Details dialog, accessible from your account's dashboard.

Failing transactions

If a transaction fails to send, Ledger Vault will automatically retry up to three times. If all attempts are unsuccessful, the transaction will be marked as Failed to Broadcast.