# Crypto transaction fees explained: what gas fees are and how you pay them

> A gas fee is what a blockchain charges to record your transaction. Here is what you pay, why fees differ, and where ripr shows it before you confirm.

- URL: https://ripr.trade/blog/crypto-transaction-fees-explained
- Publisher: ripr (https://ripr.trade)
- Author: ripr Editorial Team
- Published: 2026-11-13
- Category: Guides

A crypto transaction fee — usually called a gas fee — is the small payment a blockchain takes for recording your transaction. Every chain charges one, you pay it in that chain's own coin, and it is separate from anything the app you are using charges. ripr sends every trade on Solana, so the gas fee there is a small amount of SOL, and the app shows it to you before you confirm.

Here is what you are actually paying for, what makes one fee bigger than another, and where each cost turns up when you buy or sell a coin.

## What is a crypto transaction fee (gas fee)?

A crypto transaction fee is what you pay a blockchain to include your transaction in its record. "Gas" is the nickname for it, borrowed from the idea of fuel: your transaction asks a network of independent computers to do a piece of work, and the fee pays for that work.

Two details trip up beginners more than anything else.

The first is which coin the fee comes out of. You pay it in the chain's own coin, not in the coin you are buying. On Solana that coin is SOL, which is why ripr asks you to keep a little SOL in your wallet even when you are buying something else.

The second is that the gas fee is not the app's fee. They are two separate charges from two different places, and a single trade usually pays both.

## Why blockchains charge gas fees, and what makes one fee bigger than another

Blockchains charge a gas fee because nobody runs them for nothing, and because an open network with no charge at all would be flooded with junk. The fee pays the independent operators who process and store your transaction, and it makes spamming the chain expensive enough not to be worth doing.

Three things decide how big a gas fee is:

1. **Which chain you are on.** Every network sets its own fee model, so the same action can work out very differently on two chains. Solana's model is set out in [Solana's documentation on transaction fees](https://solana.com/docs/core/fees).
2. **How busy the network is.** When a lot of people want their transactions recorded in the same moment, fees move up.
3. **How much work your transaction asks for.** A transaction that touches several accounts is heavier than one that touches two, and it is charged accordingly.

## How crypto transaction fees work on Solana, the chain ripr trades on

On Solana you pay the gas fee in SOL, and ripr is a Solana-only app: trading, launching and market data all run on Solana. That keeps the answer short. Whatever coin you are buying, the network fee comes out of the SOL sitting in your ripr wallet.

ripr sends your trades with Solana's standard network fee, and the app keeps a ceiling on that figure. That ceiling works in your favour: a prepared trade whose network fee came back above it is refused rather than sent.

The network fee is charged per transaction rather than as a share of your money. That distinction matters. ripr's market data for one busy coin recorded about 158,000 buys and sells in a single day, worth roughly $3.3 million between them — an average trade of about twenty dollars. Solana's network fee treats the smallest of those and the largest the same way.

The app's own charge is the other half of the picture. Trading on ripr uses a total 1% swap fee on both Buy and Sell transactions, plus Solana network gas fees, and the swap fee comes out of the amount you enter. The help centre sets out [what fees are charged during trading](https://ripr.trade/support/what-fees-are-charged-during-trading), including how that 1% splits between the platform and the coin's creator.

## Where ripr shows you a fee before you confirm

On iOS and Android, ripr's trade sheet lists the network fee, the app's own fee line where one applies, and the refundable account deposit before you confirm. Give that part of the sheet a read on your first buy, while the numbers are still unfamiliar.

There is a second check you do not have to run yourself. Before your wallet signs, the ripr app compares the prepared transaction on your device against the amount, slippage and fee limits you set, and refuses it if anything differs. Slippage, in that list, is the maximum price change you allow while a trade executes. That check is about the transaction, not about whether the coin is worth buying — that part stays your call.

## Why your first buy of a coin includes a refundable deposit

Your first buy of any particular coin on ripr opens a small account on Solana to hold it, and that account carries a refundable deposit of about 0.0015 SOL. It is not a fee. Solana holds the deposit while the account exists and releases it when the account closes, so you meet it once per coin rather than on every trade.

ripr can get it back for you. The app can close empty token accounts and return their deposits in SOL, and a full sell can close that coin's account automatically. For the rest of the flow around it, see [how to buy a Solana meme coin](https://ripr.trade/blog/how-to-buy-a-solana-meme-coin) and [how to sell a Solana meme coin](https://ripr.trade/blog/how-to-sell-a-solana-meme-coin).

## Why trades fail when there isn't enough SOL for fees

A trade fails when your wallet has no SOL left to pay the network fee, because the fee is paid in SOL whichever coin you are trading. Low SOL for fees is one of the common reasons a swap does not go through; ripr's help centre lists it next to an invalid amount, fast price movement and temporary network load in [why did my swap fail](https://ripr.trade/support/why-did-my-swap-fail).

The habit that avoids it is a simple one. Leave yourself a small SOL reserve instead of pushing every last bit of it into a coin, and top it up before you trade rather than after a failed attempt. You can add SOL by card or Apple Pay, and in India by UPI or bank transfer; the provider sets its own fee and shows it at checkout. ripr's guide to [depositing SOL into your app wallet](https://ripr.trade/support/how-do-i-deposit-sol-into-my-app-wallet) covers the in-app payment flow and the Receive address for a transfer.

A few general habits are worth keeping whatever you trade. Start with an amount you would be relaxed about losing. Paste the full contract address into ripr's search when you want to be certain you are on the coin you meant and not a copycat with the same ticker. And read the figures on the sheet before you confirm, not afterwards.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I pay a crypto transaction fee on both buys and sells?

Yes. A buy and a sell are two separate transactions on Solana, so each one pays its own network fee in SOL. Trading on ripr also uses a total 1% swap fee on both Buy and Sell transactions, so the app's side is charged on the way in and again on the way out.

### What happens if I don't have enough SOL for gas fees?

The trade does not go through. Low SOL for fees is one of the common reasons a swap fails on ripr, alongside an invalid amount, fast price movement and network load. Add a little SOL to your wallet, then re-enter the trade on a fresh quote.

### Can I get a crypto transaction fee back?

A network fee is spent on the network and stays spent. The account deposit that your first buy of a coin sets aside is a different thing: it is refundable, and ripr can close empty token accounts to return those deposits in SOL.

### Do crypto transaction fees depend on how much I trade?

Partly. Solana's network fee is charged per transaction, so a small buy and a large buy carry the same network charge. The 1% swap fee on ripr works the other way, because it is a share of the amount you enter and scales with it.

## What to remember before your next trade

Gas fees are what it costs to use a public blockchain, and on Solana they come out of the SOL you keep in your app wallet. Read the fee lines on the trade sheet once, leave a little SOL spare, and remember that a first buy sets aside a deposit you get back later. Then open [ripr's Explore screen](https://ripr.trade/explore) for trending and newly launched coins, and keep your first trade small while you get used to reading the sheet.

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*Last verified 3 November 2026. This article is published by ripr, which builds an app for trading Solana coins. Nothing here is financial advice.*