Solscan Beginner’s Guide: How to Track Solana Transactions

Solscan is a popular blockchain explorer for the Solana blockchain that makes on-chain data easy to read. You can use it to view wallets (your own or others’), transactions, tokens, and even NFTs.

At tax time, Solscan can also help you get a complete record of your DeFi activity on Solana. Let’s take a closer look.

Solana users leverage Solscan to review contracts and transactions. Solscan labels tokens and addresses, making everything relatively easy to understand.

Because Solscan is read-only, many Solana users also rely on it daily to check activity without needing to connect their wallet.

Solscan can also help at tax time by providing a complete record of your Solana DeFi transactions.

• Rich transaction decoding with inner instructions.

• Clear wallet pages that double as a Solscan wallet tracker.

• Token and program pages with supply and holder data.

• Labels that help you spot official mints and look-alikes

• Pro API for analytics, monitoring, and dashboards.

When viewing a transaction page, check the status, fee, and other details. Token balance changes show which assets moved and the amounts.

On a wallet page, you’ll see an overview of SOL and token balances, plus tabs for transfers and recent activity. You can use this to review your own wallet or others’.

The same goes for Solana token contracts. You can view important analytics and metrics like distribution, transaction information, and confirm official contract addresses.

To start using Solscan is simple:

1. Open Solscan.io.

2. Paste a wallet, signature, or token address into search.

3. Review the page, then follow links to related addresses or tokens and conduct as much research or analysis as you’d like.

4. You can export a CSV report in the Transfers tab and Token/Holders tab. This can help at tax time, when you need a record of your Solana wallet activity.

Note: A comparable Ethereum blockchain explorer is Etherscan.

How do I track transactions on Solscan?

1. Copy the transaction signature from your wallet.

2. Paste it into Solscan search and press Enter.

3. Check status, fee, and block time.

4. Expand instructions and inner instructions to see program calls.

5. Review token balance changes to confirm what moved.

6. Click any account or token to follow the trail.

Here’s a quick breakdown of Solscan as it compares to the other major Solana explorers.

• Fast confirmations for swaps, mints, and transfers.

• Readable decode for complex DeFi and NFT flows.

• A Solscan wallet view that works without connecting to a wallet.

• Watch out for fake sites that try to steal your address. Always check that the URL is correct. The address for Solscan is Solscan.io.

• Short indexing delays can occur during network congestion.

• Labels can help, but you should always double-check that a contract address is official.

• Know that your own wallet is visible on the blockchain. Be extremely careful with sensitive information like your wallet address and seed phrases.

• Don’t screenshot, reveal, or announce your holdings publicly or to anybody you don’t trust. The blockchain is a public ledger, and relative anonymity is a key selling point of DeFi.

• If a transaction doesn’t show up, try refreshing the page or make sure you’re on the right cluster.

• Double-check wallet addresses and copy and paste. Never try to enter a long wallet or contract address manually.

• Amounts look off, check token balance changes, and look at other Solana blockchain explorers for clarity.

• If you’re on the wrong network, switch between mainnet, testnet, or devnet as needed.

• It is fast, readable, and covers the details that matter.

• It works as a simple Solscan wallet tracker when you only need to view.

• The API supports teams that need alerts and analytics.

• You can view all information on Solscan without connecting your wallet.

• Never share your seed phrase, and keep it secure in multiple locations offline. Do not store your seed phrase digitally.

• Use labels and links as a starting point, and always double-check important actions with another source before making large moves.

• When you do decide to trade, test transactions are always a good idea. Triple-check contract and wallet addresses, and cross-reference contracts against official sources.