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Review a transaction

Intended reader: anyone about to approve anything. Goal: understanding what you are authorizing before you authorize it. Prerequisites: a pending approval on screen. Safety: this is the last point at which the outcome is still up to you.

The approval screen is stacked in a fixed order, and the order is deliberate. Read it from the top.

The order in which a signature request is presented, top to bottomThe approval screen is stacked in a fixed order and is read from the top. First, anything blocking: a check that failed hard, which cannot be clicked through and leaves the approve control disabled. Second, the impact summary: what leaves your wallet, what returns, the resulting net change, and any assets touched, each carrying a confidence mark of exact, estimated or unknown. Third, the overall status, which is ready, review or blocked, and which can never be ready while any fact is unknown. Fourth, warnings that do not block, such as address reputation notes and decoded risk rows. Fifth, the details: network, destination, the single fee statement, the full input and output list, and the raw transaction. Reject sits beside approve at the same size, and rejecting costs nothing. A footnote states the two rules that matter: a fact the wallet could not read is shown as unknown rather than rounded to zero or hidden, and a request that changes after you looked at it is refused rather than signed.READ IT FROM THE TOP. THE ORDER IS THE ARGUMENT.1. BLOCKINGA check that failed hard. Approve stays disabled. This is not a warning you can click past.Blocked2. IMPACTLeaves your wallet0.03450000 BTCEXACTComes back to you0.01446152 BTCEXACTToken balance moved250 TOKEN outESTIMATEDEvery line carries its own confidence. The screen takes the worst one.3. STATUSReady, Review, or Blocked. It can never read Ready while any fact is unknown.4. WARNINGSThings worth knowing that do not block: address reputation, decoded risk rows, advisories.5. DETAILSNetwork and accountDestination, marked external when it is not yoursThe fee, stated once, in one placeEvery input and every outputWhich inputs are protectedThe raw transaction, copyableReject sits beside Approve, the same size. Rejecting costs nothing and can always be repeated.A request that changes after you looked at it is refused, not signed.

Blocking problems come first, then what actually happens to your money, then the overall status, then non-blocking warnings, then the full detail. Reject sits beside Approve at the same size.

Even in a hurry, read these four.

What you are about to sign
Leaves your wallet
0.03450000 BTC
Comes back to you
0.01446152 BTC
Network fee
0.00003848 BTC at 18.5 sat/vB
Assets touched
None
  1. What leaves. Not what you typed. What the transaction actually spends.
  2. What comes back. Your change. If this is missing or much smaller than you expected, the difference went to the fee.
  3. The fee. Stated once, in one place, as an amount and a rate.
  4. Assets touched. If this is not “none” on a payment you intended to be plain money, stop.

A check that failed hard. Approve stays disabled and you cannot click through it. This is not advice; it is a refusal.

What leaves, what returns, the net change, and any assets touched. Every line carries a confidence mark of EXACT, ESTIMATED, or UNKNOWN. See Confidence marks.

Ready, Review, or Blocked. It can never read Ready while any fact on the screen is unknown.

Things worth knowing that do not block: address reputation notes, decoded risk rows, advisories. Each risk row is labelled Warning or Critical in words, not only by colour.

Network and account, the destination and whether it is external to your wallet, the fee, every input and output, which inputs are protected, and the raw transaction so you can inspect it elsewhere.

Reject, without hesitating, if any of these is true.

  • The change output is missing and you cannot account for the remainder.
  • The destination is not the address you expect, character for character at both ends.
  • An amount is larger than you intended, in any line.
  • Anything is marked unknown.
  • The origin shown is not the site you think you are on.
  • A protected coin is being spent and you did not deliberately start an asset transfer.
  • You do not understand what the transaction does.

Approving broadcasts the transaction and moves you to a result screen with a transaction id. Rejecting closes the request and tells the requesting site you declined.

  • The activity entry shows the same amount and the same fee you saw on the review.
  • Your balance dropped by amount plus fee, and nothing else moved.
  • Any asset you hold is still listed.