The three clocks
Every swap goes through the same stages: the deposit is broadcast → it reaches the required number of confirmations → the rate is locked → the payout is broadcast → the payout confirms on its network. Delays come from three places, and knowing which one you are looking at tells you whether to wait or act.
1. Deposit confirmations. SyntheticSwap credits a deposit only after a fixed number of confirmations on the source chain, because an unconfirmed transaction can still be replaced or dropped. The numbers are shown on every pair page and are roughly:
| Source coin | Confirmations | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| BTC | 2 | ~20 minutes (longer at low fee) |
| ETH, USDT/USDC ERC-20 | 15 | ~3 minutes |
| XMR | 5 | ~10 minutes |
| ZEC | 6 | ~8 minutes |
| LTC | 5 | ~12 minutes |
| DASH | 10 | ~25 minutes |
| USDT TRC-20 | 1 | seconds |
| TRX, USDT BEP-20, BNB | 10 | ~30 seconds |
| SOL, USDC Solana | 1 | seconds |
| XRP | 2 | seconds |
| GRAM, USDT on TON | 2 / 20 | seconds / ~2 minutes |
2. The fee you chose for the deposit. On Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum the network prioritises transactions by fee. A deposit sent with a fee below the going rate can wait in the mempool for hours; the confirmation count does not start until it is in a block. This is the single most common reason a swap "hangs" — and it is entirely on the sending side.
3. The payout network. Once the deposit is credited, the payout is broadcast within minutes. How fast it becomes usable depends on the destination: TRON, Solana and XRP in seconds; Ethereum in a minute or two; Bitcoin one block (~10 minutes); Monero visible after one block, spendable after ~10 (about 20 minutes).
Reading the status page
- Waiting for deposit: nothing has arrived yet. Check the transaction in your wallet or on the explorer named on the pair page. If it is unconfirmed with a low fee, that is the cause.
- Confirming: the deposit is seen and is accumulating confirmations. Nothing to do.
- Exchanging: the rate is locked and the payout is being prepared. Usually a minute or two.
- Sending / Finished: the payout is broadcast; the transaction hash is shown. Track it on the destination explorer (except Monero, where your wallet is the only place the amount is visible).
What actually fixes a slow deposit
- Bitcoin / Litecoin sent with a low fee: if your wallet supports RBF (replace-by-fee), bump the fee. If not, you can try a CPFP (child-pays-for-parent) from the receiving side — but the receiving side here is the swap's deposit address, so that is not available to you; the practical options are waiting or, if the transaction is dropped from mempools, resending with a proper fee.
- Ethereum sent with a low gas price: speed it up from your wallet (same nonce, higher gas); MetaMask and Rabby have a "speed up" button.
- Deposit sent on the wrong network: confirmations will never come because the swap is watching a different chain. Contact support with the transaction hash and the swap ID.
- Amount below the minimum: the deposit is seen but cannot be swapped; it is returned to the refund address you gave. Without a refund address, contact support.
What changes while you wait
The rate. Quotes are floating and are locked when the deposit confirms, not when you clicked Swap now. A deposit that takes an hour to confirm is exchanged at the rate in an hour. This is why the pair pages recommend a fee that confirms within a block or two, and why swapping from fast chains (TRON, Solana) into slow ones is more predictable than the other way round.
Realistic end-to-end times
- USDT ERC-20 → USDT TRC-20: under 5 minutes.
- BTC → ETH: 20–30 minutes, dominated by the two Bitcoin confirmations.
- BTC → XMR: 30–45 minutes including Monero's spendable threshold.
- ETH → BTC: about 15 minutes to a usable BTC balance.
- XMR → USDT TRC-20: about 10–12 minutes.
If a swap is well past these ranges and the status page still shows "waiting for deposit", the deposit has not confirmed — check the fee first, then the network.
BTC → ETH
USDT (ERC-20) → USDT (TRC-20)
ETH → BTC