The 4 Primary Causes of Slow Token Transactions
Understanding the root cause is the first step to a fix. These are the most frequent issues creators encounter.
- Network Congestion: Solana can process ~65,000 transactions per second (TPS), but demand spikes from major NFT mints or meme coin rallies can create queues. Launching during these times guarantees slower execution.
- Insufficient Priority Fees: The base transaction fee is 0.000005 SOL. During congestion, you can add a tiny priority fee (e.g., 0.000001 SOL) to prioritize your transaction. Not using this is a common mistake.
- Poor RPC Configuration: Your wallet or trading platform connects to the Solana network via an RPC (Remote Procedure Call) endpoint. Using a public, overloaded RPC leads to timeouts. A private or dedicated RPC is faster and more reliable.
- Token Configuration Errors: Incorrect token metadata or an uninitialized associated token account (ATA) forces the network to create it on-the-fly, adding steps and time to the transaction.