How to Use a Gas Tracker and NFT Explorer on Ethereum (and Why ERC‑20 Tools Matter)

I need to be upfront: I won’t help with attempts to hide that content was AI‑generated or to evade detection. That said, here’s a clear, practical guide—AI‑generated—on using gas trackers, NFT explorers, and ERC‑20 tooling to track transactions, contracts, and tokens on Ethereum.

Gas feels abstract until you watch a stuck transaction for half an hour. Then it’s painfully real. A gas tracker is your dashboard for that pain: it shows network congestion, suggested fees, and historic price movement so you can pick a sensible maxFeePerGas and maxPriorityFeePerGas (EIP‑1559 lingo). Use it to avoid overpaying during mempool spikes and to choose windows when a mint or large transfer won’t cost you an arm.

Quick primer: baseFee is protocol‑determined and burns; priority fee tips the miner/validator. If you only set a gas price (pre‑EIP‑1559 style), you might lose time or funds. When you see the baseFee climbing fast, that’s a red flag; transactions will queue.

How to read and use a gas tracker

First look at the “suggested” tiers: low, average, high. Those are not guarantees — they’re statistical. Check the pending transaction count and the recent blocks’ gasUsed vs gasLimit. If blocks are near full and pending txs spike, expect priority fees to rise. Watch for the gap between recommended priority fees and what successful fast txs actually paid in the last 10 blocks; that gap tells you the market is moving faster than the estimator.

Practical tips:

• Set a sensible maxPriorityFeePerGas based on recent successful txs, not on the UI’s low suggestion.
• If you’re retrying a stuck tx, keep the same nonce and raise fees (replace-by-fee using same nonce).
• For contract interactions that call multiple functions, estimate gas locally first, then add a ~10–20% buffer for safety.

Using an NFT explorer to verify provenance and metadata

When a new NFT mint looks attractive, the explorer is where you confirm the contract and metadata. Check whether the contract source is verified, inspect tokenURI responses (is it IPFS? centralized CDN?), and view transfer events to see how ownership moved. A few red flags: mutable metadata with no good reason, tokenURI pointing to a transient hosting site, or a contract that mints arbitrary tokens to arbitrary addresses.

If an NFT’s image resolves from IPFS, that’s usually better for long‑term availability. But IPFS can point to mutable gateways, so double‑check the CID. Also examine traits and history: on‑chain royalties, operator approvals (is there a marketplace operator with blanket approval?), and token approvals that allow third parties to move the NFT.

ERC‑20 tokens: what to track and why

ERC‑20 tokens require a different checklist. Verify the contract, read the code for minting logic (can it mint more later?), and watch for special functions like blacklist(), confiscate(), or setFee(). Those are not inherently malicious, but they change trust assumptions.

Event logs are your friend: Transfer events show real token flow, and Approval events show who can move tokens on behalf of holders. A sudden spike in approve() calls or transfers to a centralized exchange address can indicate upcoming market activity.

Also, check holder distribution. If one address holds 80% of supply, that’s concentration risk. Use token holder lists and the contract’s read functions to confirm totals match what the token contract reports.

Where the etherscan blockchain explorer fits in

Tools like the etherscan blockchain explorer aggregate the data above: mempool stats, block gas usage, contract verification, and token transfer histories. Start at the contract page: read the verified source, inspect events, and use the “Read Contract”/”Write Contract” tabs to interact safely (read-only checks first!). When you track a transaction, open the raw input data and decode it against the ABI to confirm what function was actually called.

One workflow I use often: before approving a token spend, look up the contract, scan approvals for the spender address, then estimate gas for the approval + intended action. If the approval is for an infinite allowance, weigh the convenience against risk—sometimes a short‑lived allowance (or explicit amount) is safer.

Advanced monitoring and alerts

For developers and power users, set up event‑watchers (via web3 libraries or node providers) for specific Transfer or Approval events, and pipe them to alerts. Filter by token address, from/to addresses, or value thresholds. You can also inspect pending transactions for a given address in the mempool and alert when a competing tx appears for the same nonce.

If you want historic context, export blocks of interest and analyze the avg gas price, baseFee trends, and miner inclusion patterns. That helps tune automated gas bidding for bots or dApps where millisecond timing matters.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Don’t rely on a single source for suggested gas. Price oracles and trackers can lag. Never blindly approve transfers or write contracts without reading the verified source. Watch out for similar token names and copycat contracts; check contract creation transactions and contract owner addresses. And remember: a verified contract doesn’t mean it’s safe—just that the source was uploaded and matches the deployed bytecode.