Retrieving the Dynamic Average Gas Price for Ethereum Transactions
As an Ethereum developer, you are probably interested in understanding how to retrieve the dynamic average gas price (or maxPriorityFeePerGas and maxFeePerGas) that powers your transactions. This value is essential for optimizing gas usage and ensuring optimal transaction processing times.
In this article, we will explore the process of retrieving these values using the Ethereum blockchain’s smart contracts.
Understanding Gas Prices
On the Ethereum network, gas prices are calculated based on several factors:
- Gas Price Per Unit (Gwei): This is the base price for each unit of gas.
- Maximum Priority Fee (MPF) per Gas
: The maximum amount that can be charged as a priority fee by a miner when accepting transactions from a sender with insufficient funds.
- Maximum Gas Fee (MF) per transaction: The maximum amount that can be charged as a transaction fee for each unit of gas.
Retrieving the Dynamic Average Gas Price
To retrieve the dynamic average gas price, you will need to analyze the current gas prices and fees associated with transactions on the Ethereum network. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Collect Gas Price Data
You can use several tools or libraries to collect gas price data from the Ethereum blockchain. Some popular options include:
ethers.js: A JavaScript library that provides a simple interface for querying Ethereum data.
web3.js: A JavaScript library that allows you to interact with the Ethereum network and query data.
const ethers = require('ethers');
const web3 = new Web3(new ethers.providers.JsonRpcProvider('
// Get gas price for a specific transaction hash
async function getGasPrice(hash) {
const transaction = await web3.eth.getTransaction(hash);
const gasPrice = await transaction.gasPrice;
return gasPrice;
}
Step 2: Analyze transaction fees
To calculate the dynamic average gas price, you will need to analyze the fees associated with each transaction. You can use the web3 library to retrieve transaction details and fees.
async function getTransactionFees(transactionHash) {
const transaction = await web3.eth.getTransaction(transactionHash);
const feeAmount = await transaction.fee;
const gasPrice = await getGasPrice(transactionHash); // Use this value for your calculations
return feeAmount + (gasPrice * 1000000); // Convert Gwei to Wei and add to the fee amount in Wei
}
Step 3: Calculate the dynamic average gas price
Now that you have the gas price and the fees associated with each transaction, you can calculate the dynamic average gas price.
async function getDynamicAverageGasPrice() {
let totalGasPrice = 0;
let totalFees = 0;
// Get all transactions from the Ethereum network
const transactions = await web3.eth.getTransactionList();
for (const transaction of transactions) {
const gasPrice = await getGasPrice(transaction.hash);
const feeAmount = await getTransactionFees(transaction.hash);
if (feeAmount > totalFees + feeAmount) {
// Update dynamic average gas price
totalGasPrice += gasPrice;
totalFees = 0;
} else {
totalFees += feeAmount;
}
}
const dynamicAverageGasPrice = (totalGasPrice / transactions.length).toNumber();
return dynamicAverageGasPrice;
}
Example Use Case
To demonstrate the use of these functions, let’s create a simple application that displays the dynamic average gas price.