Once set up with a bitcoin or bitcoin cash wallet and some coins, using and sending them is pretty easy. Part of this process involves paying a transaction fee, which is a small amount of coin included in a transaction incentivizing miners to work the tx into a block. Both BTC and BCH transactions have fees, with BCH fees being much lower. This post will detail some ways to find and track the best possible fees, set tx fees in your wallet, and make the most of this aspect of using peer-to-peer electronic cash.
Also read: How To Start Using Bitcoin: Buying, Storing, and Spending Crypto
How Transaction Fees Work
A transaction (tx) fee is a small amount of bitcoin included in a transaction that rewards miners for validating a payment, which results in confirmation on the blockchain. Higher fees generally will result in a tx being processed more quickly. Depending on the nature of your transaction, you may not be in a hurry to have it confirmed, and can set a lower fee in your wallet which might result in the tx being confirmed in a later block. In a more urgent situation, a higher fee will get your tx processed more quickly. This post will look at both BTC and BCH tx fees, and how to make the most of them.
Tracking BCH and BTC Fees
For starters, the highly customizable chart above from bitinfocharts.com, shows average BTC fees (blue) as compared to average BCH fees (red) over the past three months in USD. BCH fees are generally much cheaper thanks to a larger block size limit,
