In this track: From send to settlement
What is a nonce?
An account’s transaction sequence helps keep instructions in order.
Numbered order forms stop the same form from being processed twice and make missing earlier orders visible.
Nonce 4 is ready. Try submitting nonce 5 before including it.
A simplified local queue for ordinary account transactions. This model omits fee and other admission checks, and never signs or sends anything.
Follow one sender’s sequence
For ordinary transactions from an externally owned account, the transaction nonce must match the account’s expected nonce when executed. Accepted transactions advance that account’s sequence. Different accounts have independent sequences.
A gap can block a later request
If nonce 7 is pending and nonce 8 depends on it being processed first, the later request cannot simply skip the missing account-sequence step. A wallet’s pending count can differ from a confirmed-state view.
A replacement reuses the position
Two different signed transactions can target the same sender nonce. A replacement tries to have one accepted instead of the other. They cannot both consume that same sequence position in the same canonical account history.
Do not confuse the number with finality
A nonce orders authorization within the account’s transaction history. It does not tell you that a particular transaction has finalized or that its contract execution succeeded. Use receipts and chain status for those questions.
Can two transactions from the same sender both consume nonce 7 in one canonical history?
The nonce sequence prevents both ordinary transactions from consuming the same sender position.
Original explanations by EtherTools. Examples are educational and source-linked; this site is independent of the Ethereum Foundation. Our approach.