How to send Monero (XMR)

Check the address first

Monero has one network, so there is no network to choose. What matters is the address. A standard Monero address is 95 characters long and starts with 4; subaddresses, which the Monero docs recommend for receiving, also have 95 characters and start with 8. An integrated address is 106 characters and carries a short payment ID that the recipient created, which some services use to tell payments apart.

The old long payment IDs were removed in Monero 0.15 and no longer work. Copy and paste addresses rather than typing them, and compare the first and last characters after pasting.

Sending in the Monero GUI, Feather and Cake Wallet

• Monero GUI: open the Send tab, paste the address, enter the amount (or All for your whole unlocked balance), optionally set the priority and a description, then Send and enter your password. See our Monero GUI wallet guide.
• Feather: Send tab, Pay to, Amount, then Send. Feather shows the fee in a review window, where you can still Cancel; the amount you enter is what the recipient gets, and the fee is added on top. See our Feather guide.
• Cake Wallet: scan, paste or pick the address, enter the amount (Max subtracts the fee), choose a fee priority, check the summary and swipe to send. See our Cake Wallet guide.

Fees and priority

getmonero.org says the sender pays the fee, and that it depends on network congestion and the size of the transaction, not on the amount you send. You can't type a custom fee; you pick a priority instead. The GUI offers Automatic, Slow (0.2× fee), Normal, Fast (5×) and Fastest (200×), and getmonero.org recommends leaving it on Automatic.

In the 30 blocks we sampled on 18 October 2026 from the xmrchain.net explorer, the most common fee was about 0.00003 XMR and the median about 0.00012 XMR. Fees change with network load, so your wallet shows the real fee before you confirm.

Confirmations and locked balance

Monero adds a block about every 2 minutes on average, and your transaction is confirmed once it is in a block. Every new output is locked for 10 blocks, about 20 minutes, before it can be spent. That is a Monero consensus rule.

This also applies to your own change. When you send part of a balance, the rest comes back to you as change and is locked for 10 blocks, so your spendable balance drops for about 20 minutes after a payment. Sending "all" only sends the unlocked part.

Proving a payment

Monero amounts and addresses aren't public, so a payment is proven with keys from your wallet. getmonero.org's guide uses the transaction ID, the recipient's address and the transaction key: the sender gets the key with get_tx_key, and anyone can check it with check_tx_key. Feather calls the signed version an OutProof (History, right-click the transaction, Create tx proof), and the GUI has a Prove/Check tab.

If something goes wrong with a SilentXMR order, your order ID and the transaction ID are usually all we need.

Sending XMR to swap it into BTC, ETH or USDT

Swapping XMR here is just a Monero payment to the deposit address on your order:

1. Create the order: choose XMR to BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC or LTC in the swap card and paste the address where you want to receive that coin. You see the amount you get, locked for 30 minutes.
2. Send the exact XMR amount to the deposit address on your order. If your wallet adds the fee on top (Feather, the GUI), enter the order amount as it is. If you use Max in Cake, check that the amount sent matches the order.
3. Keep your order ID. Once your XMR deposit confirms, the other coin is sent to you by hand and the transaction appears on your order page.

If you sent to the wrong address

getmonero.org says Monero transactions can't be reversed once they are confirmed, and the only way to get the funds back is to ask the receiver to return them. Feather's docs say funds sent to the wrong address cannot be recovered. Before a transaction is broadcast you can still cancel it, for example with Cancel in Feather's review window.