๐ How to Use Etherscan A Beginner's Guide
Look up any Ethereum transaction, wallet, or token, and check who can spend your coins.
Etherscan is a free block explorer for the Ethereum network. People call it the Google of Ethereum: paste in a transaction, an address, or a token and you can read what happened on-chain. You never log in with a wallet to browse, and Etherscan never holds your coins. Here is how to read it, step by step.
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1Open the official site and bookmark it
Type etherscan.io into your browser and save it as a bookmark. Search-ad results sometimes point to look-alike or typo domains built to harvest data or push fake wallet pop-ups.
Reach Etherscan from your own bookmark, not from a search ad.
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2Look up a transaction by its hash
Every transaction has a transaction hash (a long string starting with
0x). Copy it from your wallet or exchange, paste it into the Etherscan search bar, and press enter. This is the most common way to verify a transfer went through. -
3Read the transaction status
The top of the page shows one of four states: Successful, Pending, Failed, or Dropped (a dropped transaction can be marked Replaced). Status is the first thing to read before anything else.
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4Read the key transaction fields
Below the status you will see the block number and how many confirmations have stacked on top, the timestamp, the From and To addresses, the value sent, the transaction fee and gas used, and the nonce (the sender's running count of transactions).
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5Look up a wallet address
Paste a 42-character address (it also starts with
0x) into the search bar to see its ETH balance, its total transaction count, and its token holdings, including ERC-20 tokens and NFTs with their amounts. -
6Browse the address tabs
An address page has tabs. Transactions lists ETH transfers, ERC-20 Token Txns lists token moves (so you can trace a stablecoin like USDC or Tether), Internal Txns shows transfers a contract triggered, and NFT Transfers lists ERC-721/1155 moves.
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7Inspect a token or smart contract
Search a token name or contract address to see its supply, holders, and a Contract tab. A green Contract Source Code Verified badge means the published code matches the deployed bytecode. A missing badge is not proof of a scam, but you cannot read what the code does, so treat unaudited or unverified contracts with extra caution.
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8Check current gas prices (optional)
The Gas Tracker at etherscan.io/gastracker shows live gas prices in gwei. Glance at it before sending if you want to time a cheaper moment.
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9Review and revoke token approvals (optional, safety)
The Token Approval Checker at etherscan.io/tokenapprovalchecker lists which contracts you have allowed to spend your tokens, shows the amount at risk, and lets you revoke ones you no longer trust. Revoking costs a small gas fee.
A periodic clean-up of old approvals is one of the simplest ways to limit what a malicious contract could ever touch.
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10Create a free account for alerts (optional)
A free account adds extras: address and transaction alerts and a watch list so you get notified when a wallet you follow moves. None of this is needed for basic look-ups.
๐ก๏ธ Common mistakes & staying safe
- ๐ซ Etherscan never asks for your seed phrase. It is read-only and is not a wallet; a request to "log in with your recovery phrase" is always a scam.
- ๐ฃ Type etherscan.io yourself. Clone sites copy the look to phish your data or trigger a wallet drainer.
- ๐ Verify the full address, not just the ends. Address poisoning and dusting drop tiny look-alike transactions hoping you copy the wrong address from your history.
- โฝ Failed does not mean free. A failed transaction still costs gas, and Etherscan reports state; it cannot speed up or cancel a stuck transaction for you.
- ๐ฒ USD values are estimates that move with price. Read them as a ballpark, not an exact figure.
โ FAQ
- Do I need an account to use Etherscan?
- No. Looking up transactions, addresses, and tokens is free and needs no login. A free account only adds extras like alerts and a watch list.
- Will Etherscan ever ask for my seed phrase?
- Never. Etherscan is read-only and is not a wallet. Anyone telling you to log into Etherscan with your recovery phrase is trying to scam you.
- My transaction failed. Did I get my gas back?
- No. A failed transaction still costs gas because the network did the work. Failed does not mean free.
- Does Etherscan work for other chains too?
- The same team runs sibling explorers: BscScan for BNB Chain, Polygonscan for Polygon, and Arbiscan for Arbitrum. They read the same way.