Topic: Best way to send BTC? (Read 406 times)

Lol, all this discussion and I just didn't put my Electrum send address in the address bar? I thought the TO box was for email addresses and mobile numbers? I'm sorry??? 

But I want to thank all the repliers for there time and knowledge.

You can.
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Why don't you contact their support and ask them about what happens during this kind of situation?

R. Coinbase support just sends you links that don't help. The won't answer your question directly?

@sumguy2017
Any chance you can show us some screenshots of how you are trying to make that withdrawal?

R. Can't do screenshots here?

I don't know how Coinbase does it, but each exchange I have used have a max button you can click on. That allows you to withdraw your entire balance minus the transaction fees. I have never used an exchange where you had to enter the withdrawal fees yourself. It's always calculated for you.

@sumguy2017
Any chance you can show us some screenshots of how you are trying to make that withdrawal? I am especially curious with the part where Coinbase changes the amounts you are entering. Maybe your entire balance is not available for withdrawal for some reason. Check out this article that discusses available balances and funds on hold.

I'm not sure about this, but perhaps coinbase thinks you're trying to send the whole $352.64 to another address without any more money for transaction fees. Why don't you contact their support and ask them about what happens during this kind of situation?

Custodial wallets like coinbase usually charge a high withdrawal fee. But it shouldn't be that high. Seems that something is wrong here?

R. Here's a copy of the message I am sending BTC too: I tried submitting the btc through coinbase again and it came out right this time? However it did change the number you gave as a total 0.00315010BTC to 0.0015010btc which equals $100.00 United States Dollars. I guess that's Coinbase's way of saying it a different way?

At any rate, when I tried to send it nothing happens? I click continue and nothing? Coinbase lists under the send button. 1. To mobile, email, or address. 2. A note box for optional message. 3. Pay with BTC. Which I checked off on the list.

Then when I click "continue" nothing happens? What am I doing wrong or am I missing a step?

_______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________

Should I just transfer to my Electrum account what I have left of my original purchased $443.00 Coinbase btc which is now worth $352.19, a difference of $90.81.

I recommend you to do so. In this way, you pay their high withdrawal fee only one time and for your next transactions, you will have for full control over your fund. Using a non-custodial wallet like electrum, you can customize the fee and pay much lower.

R. I tried sending the whole amount of BTC to my Electrum account, but like above, it seems I am missing a step in sending my BTC?

Custodial wallets like coinbase usually charge a high withdrawal fee. But it shouldn't be that high. Seems that something is wrong here.


I recommend you to do so.
In this way, you pay their high withdrawal fee only one time and for your next transactions, you will have for full control over your fund.
Using a non-custodial wallet like electrum, you can customize the fee and pay much lower.


They will charge you a same amount of fee. The fee a custodial wallet like coinbase charge you is fixed.
Also note that, Coinbase can't know where's the destination at all. Bitcoin transactions are (pseudo) anonymous.

When I try to send my btc or remaining $352.64 to my Electrum wallet and click continue it doesn't do anything? What am I doing wrong?

Yesterday I tried to send some of my BTC ($115) to a company. When I tried to paste the amount of BTC the company wanted (0.00365131) into the Coinbase send box it changed the 0.00365131 btc to 0.0065131btc  which is a $94.23 difference?

I don't understand why the amount would change to 0.0065131btc? I can only assume that's what they want to charge for sending btc to the company? I mean $94.23 for sending $115.36 is a little or a lot ridiculous? I must be doing something wrong............. am I?

If so, there's no sense in sending BTC? I might as well send via MG or WU?

Should I just transfer to my Electrum account what I have left of my original purchased $443.00 Coinbase btc which is now worth $352.19, a difference of $90.81. With a fading/falling BTC market to continue according to coinbase charts?

Or leave it there in Coinbase hoping btc will come back up in the near future? I would think it would be better if I transferred my remaining btc to my Electrum account at least I would have control of it. IDK if Coinbase will charge me the same high fee ($94.23) to transfer it to my Electrum account? This sucks?

R. Thank you for your answer.

Because bitcoin is volatile and the price goes up and down every second.

You still own the same amount of bitcoin, but their dollar value is different. You can't artificially make your bitcoin be worth what you want it to. If you made a deal with the company to pay a specific amount in BTC (0.08 BTC for example), you wouldn't have to care about the dollar value of your coins. Unfortunately, that's not the case here and you need $533 worth of bitcoin. 

Considering that the value has dropped significantly recently, you might want to check if you have enough bitcoin for that $533 transaction now. According to preev.com, 0.01699 BTC is equal to $533. You need more than that to also pay for the transaction fees and Coinbase withdrawal fees. How much do you have combined in Coinbase and Electrum?

No one can precisely tell you which way bitcoin will go from this point on. Those who can read charts and do technical analysis can make certain predictions, but human error is always possible. Bitcoin currently finds itself in a situation with negative news coming from China where the government is turning of the power for domestic mining firms and forcing them to abandon their operations. As you can imagine, it has a negative affect on the price and total hashrate.

Will BTC go up or down in the near future, can't predict that or ?

The BTC Coinbase graph shows it steadily going down in value?

But that would only work if the receiver allows him sending two different transactions. If not, I agree that the best option is to move everything from Coinbase to Electrum and then send whatever he needs from Electrum. .................... R. I asked him just now and waiting for an answer?

R. He doesn't care as long as he gets the correct amount?

You can send as many transactions from your Coinbase wallet as you want, for example if you have 1BTC and want to send 0.1BTC you send that in one transaction and will be left with 0.9BTC which you can send in another transaction to your Electrum wallet.

The problem is sending to both destinations in one transaction which requires Coinbase to allow you to use "send to many" option if it has (I don't use Coinbase and couldn't find information on the internet). In such option you would set 2 receiving addresses in your transaction one for 0.1BTC and the other for 0.9BTC and only send 1 transaction while paying 2 recipients. Those receiving the payment do not care that you also made another payment since your transaction almost always contains a change and that change might as well go to your Electrum instead of back to Coinbase.

Quote from: khaled0111 on June 19, 2021, 10:19:52 PM: I never recommended that he should move his Electrum coins to his Coinbase account and send the total sum from there. I suggested that he send everything from his Coinbase wallet to the company he is paying. Whatever else he owns should come from his Electrum wallet..............R. R. I agree with this.

But that would only work if the receiver allows him sending two different transactions. If not, I agree that the best option is to move everything from Coinbase to Electrum and then send whatever he needs from Electrum. .................... R. I asked him just now and waiting for an answer?

I initially had $443.25 in my Coinbase account. Today I checked to send and now my BTC balance is: $354.03. A $80 difference?

Why doesn't it stay at what I spent $443.25?

That's the fluctuating price of BTC? That's a big chunk of change for me?

Anyway to change that back to what I actually paid?

Probably below $0.40-$0.50 right now, but yeah that's not a lot.

I don't either. I also recommended he send those coins to the party he intends to pay.

I never recommended that he should move his Electrum coins to his Coinbase account and send the total sum from there. I suggested that he send everything from his Coinbase wallet to the company he is paying. Whatever else he owns should come from his Electrum wallet.

But that would only work if the receiver allows him sending two different transactions. If not, I agree that the best option is to move everything from Coinbase to Electrum and then send whatever he needs from Electrum. 

You are right Pmalek although one more input isn't going to cost him too much.
I was going to suggest him the same thing but changed my mind for two reasons. The first is that I don't encourage storing coins on exchanges and from his last post he didn't seem to know how it works. The second is that we don't know how precisely how much he is going to pay and how much Coinbase charges per withdrawal (in BTC), so if he sends everything to his Coinbase wallet and make the payment from there he could end up with a small change that he, most likely, wouldn't be able to withdraw.

Everyone is suggesting that you withdraw your Coinbase balance to Electrum first and then make a second transaction made up of two (I assume) inputs from Electrum to the company you need to pay to.

Let's consider another route. What are you paying for? Would that company allow you to pay with multiple transactions or does it have to be one transaction in the amount of $533? This is something you have to ask them.

You have to withdraw your money from Coinbase either way. You might as well send it to that company's address instead of sending it to yourself if that is possible. After that, you can make a second transaction by sending the remaining amount from your Electrum wallet (whatever is needed). You will save a little bit on fees that way because you won't be increasing the size of your Electrum transaction if you withdraw from Coinbase to your Electrum wallet first. Did you understand?

Let's say Coinbase charges you $20 equivalent in bitcoin for their withdrawal. You will have to pay this no matter where you send it. If you send that to your Electrum wallet, you now have to use that amount as 1 input + 1 input (those $110.56 you have in your Electrum wallet) to create an output to send to the company. If you send the Coinbase amount to the company directly, the second transaction (from your Electrum wallet) will be lighter and thus require less fees when sending. 

This is because you clicked the "send/receive" button. You use this feature only if you want to send to another coinbase user. It will create an off-chain transaction and this is not what you want.
You need to make an on-chain transaction to withdraw to an external wallet (the company's address or your Electrum address). To do this, you should go to your "Portfolio", click "Withdraw" next to the asset you want to transfer (bitcoin in your case), then "Withdraw To External Wallet" and fill the required fields "From", "Destination" and "Amount".

As Coinbase charges a flat fee, the best thing to do is to withdraw the whole balance to your Electrum wallet then pay the company from there.

If you are not ready to send that money, you can send it with the lowest possible fee (it will require more waiting time) and if you are urgent, you may pay $20, but in general you will not have to pay that amount.

Fees are usually lower on Sundays (according to LoyceV) so if you don't want to bother with calculating, do it on Sunday (not a fixed rule but to make things look simple and uncomplicated)
Otherwise withdraw all your coins to electrum's wallet and with a few techniques you will be able to send at a low price, you need to tell us:
The number of inputs, the type of addresses, do you want to get quick confirmations or the time factor is not important.

In Coinbase you can always see the transaction fee that you need to pay in order for you to complete the transaction in which Coinbase will be able to add the fee once you make a transaction over with it. In terms of Electrum, it is also the same you can check the gas fees that you will be able to consume by converting or transferring your BTC over a different account. Just make sure that the address is correct so that the transaction works without any problems.

Agree,,, best way is to send from Electrum first to Coinbase, then take everything out. Coinbase fee is flat and you have to pay it once anyway so just make it the last transaction.

If you send to Electrum, you end up paying more because additional input into your wallet means bigger tx size.

I was not predicting anything but just stating current situation of mempool at that time, and he was speaking in terms of USD.
For years I have been using mempool.space that is showing incoming transactions, unconfirmed transactions with suggested fee and it has never failed me so far.

He has $110.56 worth of Bitcoin on his electrum, so it's probably not 110 inputs... but he can always use calculators like this:
- Jameson Lopp website
- Bitcoin Ops
- ByBitcoinWorldwide
- Coinb.in
- Bitcoindata.science

Actually bitcoin fees are never X dollar
You also can't predict the sat/vbyte value based on the dollar value of the fee because you have no idea what the size of their transaction is. It may contain a lot of inputs and/or outputs that has increased its total size hence the total fee even with a small sat/vbyte fee rate.
And finally since Coinbase is a custodial wallet the fee you pay may not exactly be related to network fee and transaction size since the "centralized company" is charging this fee.

Most probably you don't have dollars at Coinbase, you clearly have no dollars in Electrum and probably you don't have to send dollars to that company, so let's talk in bitcoin/satoshi.
What I would do is:
1. Withdraw from Coinbase to Electrum
2. When [1] whas confirmed, enter that 533 or whatever dollars into http://preev.com/ and see how much Bitcoin that is. Maybe round up a tiny bit to make sure you are OK (555$?)
3. Copy the preev bitcoin amount into Electrum's amount in the send page. Fill the other fields too (recipient address).
4. Check the recommended fee/vByte at https://mempool.space/ and set that for sending. And send.

Electrum will send the money to "that company" and will also send back to you the remaining change, which may even be the equivalent of some 15-20$, depending on Bitcoin price fluctuation and how full the mempool (network) is.

You're sending and it's not yet going to send unless you input the bitcoin wallet address from your electrum wallet.

You can do this as long as the amount is exact with the fees.

They probably also have a Coinbase account and it's normal if the sender and receiver both has an account. It can be sent directly as an off chain transaction.

Bitcoin transaction fees are not always $20, but currently it is around $1 (around 30 sat/vB) and it's even lower during weekend when mempool is cleared.
I am not sure how much are withdrawal fees from Coinbase (check that on their website faq page) and I would suggest not to hold your coins on exchanges in future because they often charge extra fees from customers like this.
Sending all coins from your own wallet is always best option, and I think that only exception is FTX exchange that still offers zero fees for sending BTC.

The problem here is with the Coinbase, you can't set a custom fee here. And then we have bitcoin's volatility as the price might change dramatically.

If I'm in your shoes, I will try to send $443.25 to the company first, and then see how much money it will end up in that company. And then my Electrum, customised your fees and hope that it will have enough to cover that $553.00.

What do you mean you can't see the place where you can put the BTC address? There should be one in either Coinbase or Electrum.

Thank you all for your input, appreciate it. I only do 3-4 transaction per year, if that? So I'm kind of new to it all, the terminology, etc.

But the thing I'm not to sure of is sending my Coinbase BTC to my Electrum account. Coinbase says Send/Receive. I'm both sending and receiving. I would think I'm sending to my Electrum account. But I don't want to assume anything? Seems like/is a dumb question, lol? But I'm sending to my Electrum account correct? Rather be dumb here then lose $400+ BTC?

Or I could send directly to the companies BTC address I'm purchasing from?

My next question is I don't see a place to put the companies BTC address too? Just Mobile, email or address? A place for a optional message and pay with BTC.

Just make sure to check the mempool before sending the TX, and make sure to use RBF just in case the fee suddenly increases. Don't use the Coinbase fee as the standard, that can give you trouble if you're not careful. It's not a good practice either. I also believe that it's a good thing to send your money from Coinbase to Electrum first, so you don't have to deal with two different transactions. Looking at the mempool right now, I doubt it will cost you more than $10 for all of the necessary transactions. Especially if you do it on the weekend.

I tend to agree with this one, Bitcoin fees aren't in the dollar base, it should be on sat per byte.

The link that shared above was right, you can calculate the fee according to the mempool fees, the fees rate is the same with Bitcoin price, it is very volatile and it will fluctuate every now then, it is hard to determine how much exact amount of satoshi per your transaction.  Coinbase wallet and Electrum wallet has different fees rate.

Still, OP needs to transfer the Bitcoin because they aren't the same wallet, as I expected Coinbase here has a big amount of fees.

why not put it all first on 1 wallet, then send it.

First negotiate which Bitcoin rate the two of you will use. There are several "prices" that can be used. Set the value in BTC, not in dollars. Then send everything that is in your electrum wallet, you can set a lower fee there. And complement what is missing with the value you have in coinbase.

Yes, you are right here. I think you can't manage the custom fee rate on Coinbase.
I will suggest doing the first "consolidation" from Coinbase to Electrum on weekends, when the network is least congested and usually on weekends the fee is lowest, and transactions are realized quickly.
Of course, if OP needs urgently to send BTC, then there is not much calculation on how to significantly reduce tx costs.

Well, I think you need these tools as your reference regarding the transaction fee and you problem. ^{[ https://mempool.space ]} and the bitcoin calculator to estimate the fee  ^{[ https://bitcoinfees.net/ ]}. As I know Electrum wallet have a feature of modifying transaction fee while Coinbase has a flat fee rate. So it will always depend on the required amount on the mempool space will be the result of your calculation is having fees. Make your own calculation if you completely understand.

Transaction fees can be determined by checking the mempool status, there are currently some websites that offers such service; estimating the fees for the next blocks. This however only applies to electrum. Coinbase, where you hold majority of the funds fix their own ferrate using their own estimate, which is mosttimes different from the recommended one. There are also internal fees you'll need to pay.

To determine how much you'll pay;
• Use an estimator to determine the current ferrate (this is one - https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/fee-calculator/)
• Check that with the size of your transaction (inputs mostly)
• Calculate the internal fees on coinbase
• Attempt sending a transaction to compare the ferrate estimation on coinbase.
• Check to confirm if the desired amount can be sent.

I want to send $533 to a company. I have $443.25 in my Coinbase account. And $110.56 balance in my Electrum account. Total of $553.81.

I believe the BTC transfer fee is around $20.00. How do I determine how much the transfer fees are from both Electrum and Coinbase to calculate or determine I'm sending the guy the correct amount of $533.00?