What is an unconfirmed transaction?

A Bitcoin user can’t reverse a Bitcoin transaction after confirmation. However, they can cancel a transaction if unconfirmed. A Bitcoin transaction is unconfirmed if the blockchain doesn’t approve it within 24 hours. Miners must confirm every transaction via the mining process. For blockchain to approve a transaction fully, it must get at least three confirmations.
A Bitcoin transaction may remain unconfirmed for the following primary reasons:

  • If it’s very recent, a user might have to wait longer to receive confirmation. Even the quickest network takes a minimum of 10 minutes to confirm a transaction.
  • If the transaction fee was too low or not included, it might be unconfirmed. A simple rule that applies to Bitcoin transactions is that smaller amounts have lower chances of getting a successful confirmation.

Miners might not confirm transactions with too low fees. But if the network does not verify your transaction within 24 hours, you can do the following.

Reverse the Unconfirmed Transaction
You can reverse your Bitcoin transaction if unconfirmed within 24 hours. However, ensure that the transaction is genuinely unconfirmed. That means you have to wait for 24 hours. If you don’t get a confirmation within this time, use a reliable block explorer to confirm the status of your TX.
Since the blockchain is public, you can easily track your transaction. All you need is to enter the transaction ID to follow it with the block explorer. Every Bitcoin transaction requires at least three confirmations to be fully confirmed. If your transaction has two or one approval, you have to wait for a third miner to validate it. That’s because the validation process has already started.

Canceling a Bitcoin Transaction
If you don’t notice any confirmation, you can cancel your transaction.

Here’s how to do it:

  • Use Replace by Fee or RBF Protocol
  • Use Higher Fee Double Spend Transaction

With the RBF Protocol, you broadcast a Bitcoin transaction to the entire network for a second time but with a higher fee. That way, miners pick the transaction faster, thereby canceling the previous expenditure and creating a new one.