First step in the Crypto-World: Metamask
What is Metamask?
MetaMask is a browser plugin, available as the MetaMask Chrome extension or Firefox Add-on. It serves as an Ethereum wallet: By Installing Metamask you can easily start sending and receiving eth or ERC-20 tokens. When Metamask is installed, any supported web browser can interact with the blockchain.
Metamask Installation
Step 1: Download Metamak from https://metamask.io
Step 2: Click Add to Firefox/Add to Chrome to install metamask as a firefox/chrome extension.
you can see metamask was added by the little fox logo in your toolbar.
Step 3: Press Get Started button
Step 4: Press Create a Wallet button (Do NOT forget to backup the seed, this seed alone is enough to give you access to your account, even if you forget the password)
Optional: if you have previously created an account and saved the seed phrase, choose “No, I already have a seed phrase” to get access to that account
Step 5: Create a strong password for your metamask account.
How to use Metamask?
Step 1: In Metamask’s main page press the send button.
Step 2: Enter recipient address
Step 3: Send transaction information. Enter the amount of ETH to transfer. Transaction fees refer to the fee, or “gas”, required to successfully conduct a transaction or execute a contract on the Ethereum blockchain platform. You have three options: slow, average, and fast. You can choose any of these depending on how fast you want your transaction to be completed, but it is usually preferred to choose the fast option if you want your transaction to complete in a 30 second to a 2-minute timespan.
MetaMask also allows you to set custom fees, which can be set by clicking “Advanced Options”. Remember that setting a ridiculously low fee might mean your transaction never gets completed, while setting a very high fee may mean the transaction will be processed in seconds, but this isn’t always the desired outcome.
Note: It is important to understand that the amount of gas that is used when creating a transaction, depends on the amount of resources the transaction needs to complete (computation time, storage, etc). These factors are decided by the contract you are interacting with; for example — a contract that only transfers some ERC-20 tokens will have very low gas fees, but a contract that internally runs a loop that does a lot of computations will have much higher gas fees. It is sometimes possible for transactions to have very high gas fees (1 ETH or even more) when there is a bug in the contract’s code.
Another interesting note is that transferring ETH is a native instruction in the Ethereum blockchain, and therefore has a very low gas fee.
Gas limit
“Gas limit” refers to the maximum amount of gas (or energy) that you’re willing to spend on a particular transaction. A higher gas limit means that you are willing to pay more to execute a transaction using ether or a smart contract.
Metamask lets users easily choose between “Slow,” “Average,” and “Fast” gas fees at the point of transaction. The first two speeds make sense for casual users, whereas “Fast” is the only sensible option for decentralized exchange traders who need to execute the best prices possible as quickly as possible.
Do note that these “Slow”, “Average” and “Fast” options are merely convenience options for specific gas fees that Metamask chose. You can always choose higher (or lower) gas fees in the “Advanced options” tab if you want to make sure your transaction will go through quicker (or more cheaply).
View Account Private key
In this section, you will learn how to view your account’s private key. The private key is really important! without it you cam lose access to your account!
Step 1: Press the button
Step 2: Press Account details
Note: Do not forget to backup this private key! Backing up the seed alone does not guarantee you will have access to all your accounts if you have more than one account in your Metamask account!
Activity tab
You can view your transaction history in the ‘Activity Tab’.
Managing ERC20 Tokens
Read our tutorial about ERC20 and how to manage ERC20 tokens with Metamaks.
Summary
In this tutorial, you learn how to set up your own wallet, and how to send & receive Eteherum! Read our tutorial about ERC20 tokens to learn how to start trading and investing and start gaining profit!
