How Do I Minimize ETH Transfer Fees?

Question

I sent some ETH yesterday from a coin exchange to my ETH wallet. The gas limit was 21000, gas used was 21000 and the gas price was 111.608. The fee charged was approx. 0.00234 ETH, which was approx. 8% of the ETH transferred (I sent a very small amount). I am new to ETH and have done some basic reading about gas prices, etc., but it seems that I could have transferred one entire ETH coin for the same fee. Am I correct? If so, then one should always accumulate at least one ETH before transferring in order to minimize fees?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Let's look at firstly what is a transaction on Ethereum. A transanction is: State changing. What does it mean? You have an address on evm. And it keeps your balance. You are changing this balance (which is a variable) in thousands of computers. And you are paying gas those guys to process and keep your balance.

So, your answer is: Yes. Even if you send 1000 Ether it is same as 0.001, it is a state change.

If you want to minimize gas, you can set gas price lower. But it will take much time. Because miners select first who gives much gas. If you'll give too much gas, it can takes even weeks. You can check ideal gas prices in here