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Symptom: A swap failed or got stuck, but you do not know which part to check first
A swap most often gets stuck for one of three reasons: the deposit arrived after the rate window closed, the sent amount did not match the requested amount, or the destination wallet rejected the incoming transaction. When you are chasing maximum privacy, the same failure looks different: you have no support ticket, no registered email, and no obvious way to prove which side of the exchange moved first. The first useful step is not to blame the service but to identify which of the three layers broke.
Think of a crypto swap as a three-part chain: you send coin A to a deposit address, the service converts it internally at a rate that was fixed for a limited time, and the service sends coin B to your receiving address. A visible failure can sit at any of these points, and each failure has a distinct symptom.
First check: did your deposit actually arrive?
- Your transaction explorer shows “pending” or “unconfirmed” for coin A
- The deposit address changed between when you copied it and when you sent the funds
- You sent from a smart contract wallet or exchange that delays outgoing transfers
Open the transaction ID in a public block explorer for coin A. If the transaction is still unconfirmed, the swap service has not received anything to work with, and no amount of refreshing the swap page will change that. If the transaction is confirmed but the swap page still says “waiting for deposit,” compare the address you sent to with the address the service displayed. A copy-paste replacement by clipboard malware is a common but overlooked cause.
Second check: did the rate freeze before or after your coins arrived?
Rate locks on no-registration swap services are always temporary. If your deposit is confirmed but the page shows “rate expired,” the service likely re-quoted the swap at a new rate or paused it automatically. In that case the exchange has not necessarily failed — it is waiting for a decision: accept the new rate or request a refund to the return address.
- You copy the deposit addressthe swap is created with a temporary rate
- You send coin A from your walletthe transaction must confirm while the rate is still valid
- The service converts coin A to coin Bconversion happens only after the deposit is fully confirmed
- Coin B is sent to your receiving addressthe destination wallet must accept the asset and network
How to tell a service delay from a network delay
Deposit shows unconfirmed in explorer
- Network delay
- Service delay✕
Swap page says “awaiting deposit” although explorer shows confirmed
- Network delay✕
- Service delay
Refund or support message points to a rate window
- Network delaymaybe
- Service delay
If the deposit is confirmed and the swap page still shows no movement after the exchange’s stated processing window, the next action is to use the service’s official support or status page, not to send a second transaction. Sending a duplicate deposit almost never accelerates a stuck swap and can create a second stranded amount.
Do not use a search engine to find a “support” link. Use the exact domain of the service you used and look for support or help links on that page only. Fake support accounts and phishing pages target users whose swaps are stuck.
A stuck swap is usually diagnosable in under a minute: confirm the deposit on-chain, then compare the deposit address and the rate status. If those two checks do not explain the delay, the issue is most likely on the service side, and the official support channel is the only safe next step.