---
title: Pectra Withdrawals Explained
description: "Pectra Withdrawals Explained: Partial Withdrawals and Staked ETH Liquidity"
---

[blog ](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog)

# [Pectra Withdrawals Explained](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained)

 Written by [Pier Two Team](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/author/pier-two-team) | May 1, 2025 6:14:08 AM

Pier Two is working hard for its customers to prepare for Ethereum’s Pectra (Electra + Prague) Upgrade on 7 May 2025.

We recently released an [article which detailed the full scope of the Pectra Upgrade](https://piertwo.com/insights/ethereum-pectra-hard-fork).

A common question we’ve been answering, particularly from ETF issuers, asset managers and exchanges, is: **what does Pectra mean for withdrawals, and therefore ETH liquidity?**

So, we thought it would be helpful to set out exactly how ETH withdrawals will work after Pectra.

### Summary for ETFs, Asset Managers and Exchanges

1. Partial Withdrawals will dramatically speed up the time it takes to get ETH back into your non-custodial account, compared to pre-Pectra withdrawals.
2. It will *always* be faster to partially withdraw ETH, compared to a full exit, if you have more than 32 ETH on a single validator.
3. Understanding Partial Withdrawals is important for stakers looking to maximise earnings and liquidity.
4. If the ETH withdrawal queue is empty, it will take ~28 hours to complete a partial withdraw of approximately 2000 ETH.
5. With the same logic of empty queues, If 1% (~341k ETH) of the network partially withdraws at the same time, it will take approximately 7 days and 2 hours for that ETH to be in your withdrawal address, still less than the current full validator withdrawal period.
6. There are transaction fees associated with [User-Triggered Withdrawals](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#usertriggered) that increase if there is more demand for withdrawals.

Play around with a basic tool we've built to simulate how long unstaking will take [here](https://withdrawals.piertwo.com/).

### Ethereum's Timing Terminology

| **Constant** | **Value** |
| --- | --- |
| **Slot** | 12 seconds |
| **Epoch** | 32 Slots |

 

 

### 3 Options to Withdraw ETH Post-Pectra

After the Pectra Upgrade, stakers will have 3 options for ETH withdrawals:

1. User-triggered Partial Withdrawals;
2. Automatic Withdrawals; and
3. Full Exit Withdrawals.

### 1. Partial Withdrawals: User-Triggered, Withdrawing from Maximum 2048 to Minimum 32

*User-triggered withdrawal for validator with `0x02` credentials, newly introduced in Pectra.*

|   | **Details** |
| --- | --- |
| **Withdrawal Limit** | You may request **any amount ≤ *(current balance − 32 ETH)***. The validator must keep the 32 ETH to stay active. A single large request is allowed; the protocol automatically spreads the reserved balance over as many future epochs as needed (Partial Withdrawal Minimum Time + 256 ETH per epoch churn limit). |
| **Per Block Limit** | **8 maximum user-triggered partial withdrawals can be** **processed per block.** |
| **Minimum Time** | 27 hours 50 minutes (see Working: Minimum Time below) |
| **Maximum Time** | 28 hours 42 minutes (see Working: Maximum Time below) |

 

###### **Working: Minimum Time**

****

###### **Working: Maximum Time**

****

### 2. Automatic Withdrawals: Rewards if Validator Balance ≥ 2048

*Excess balance sweep for validators with `0x01` credentials or those with `0x02` credentials that have a balance greater than 2048 ETH, still present in Pectra.*

|   | **Details** |
| --- | --- |
| **Withdrawal Limit** | **All excess balance above the validator’s effective balance.** Validators with `0x01`credentials, any excess balance greater than 32 ETH will be withdrawn. Validators that have upgraded to `0x02` credentials, any excess balance greater than **2,048 ETH** will be withdrawn. |
| **Per Block Limit** | **16 maximum withdrawals can be processed per block. Note:** Pending withdrawals will take **processing priority**, so if a block already includes **8 Partial Withdrawals**, the remaining capacity for automatic withdrawals **will be 8**. |
| **Minimum Time** | This is **only** subject to the [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) which, as explained below, can change depending on how many eligible validators are active in the Beacon Chain. For example, if the sweep delay is 9 days, each validator will have to wait a maximum of 9 days for their subsequent withdrawal to be processed. See [validatorqueue.com](http://validatorqueue.com) for the upper bound on the Sweep Delay. |
| **Maximum Time** | This is **only** subject to the [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) which, as explained below, can change depending on how many eligible validators are active in the Beacon chain. For example, if the sweep delay is 9 days, each validator will have to wait a maximum of 9 days for their subsequent withdrawal to be processed. See [validatorqueue.com](http://validatorqueue.com) for the upper bound on the sweep delay. |

### 3. Full Exit Withdrawals: Exiting your Validator

*Full Exit Withdrawal, only possible if the user has no pending withdrawals, either by submitting a validator-signed exit message or a user-triggered withdrawal ([EIP-7002](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7002)) with the amount set to 0.*

|   | Details |
| --- | --- |
| **Withdrawal Limit** | **Entire validator balance.** The request is treated as a *full exit*; the validator leaves the active set in the Beacon chain. |
| **Per Block Limit** | Same limit applied as Automatic Withdrawal. |
| **Minimum Time** | Calculated same as the minimum time for [Partial Withdrawal](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#partialwithdrawals), plus the [Sweep Delay.](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) |
| **Maximum Time** | Calculated same as the maximum time for [Partial withdrawal](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#partialwithdrawals), plus the [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay). |

### How Long is the Sweep Delay?

The Sweep Delay is the moving wait-time between two consecutive Automatic Withdrawal sweeps of the same validator. It exists because the protocol can process only a fixed number of auto-withdrawals every block, so a round-robin cursor (“sweep cursor”) walks through the validator registry over multiple blocks.

**Relationship to other timings**

- **Partial withdrawals** ignore the Sweep Delay entirely – they come from their own FIFO queue (up to 8 per block).
- **Full exits** and **automatic excess-balance withdrawals** *do* wait for the sweep.

Because the sweep cursor keeps advancing during the 256-epoch withdrawal delay, the additional wait that delay can be anywhere between zero and one full sweep-delay:

- **Minimum Sweet Delay (best case):** the sweep is about to reach the validator’s index → 1 epoch (6 minutes 24 seconds).
- **Maximum Sweep Delay (worst case):** the sweep has just passed the index → *nearly an entire sweep-delay* of extra wait. An entire Sweep Delay currently equals [9.2 days](https://www.validatorqueue.com/) but is variable, so make sure you keep an eye on it!

### Scenario Planning: Partial Withdrawals

| **Percentage of ETH being withdrawn** | **ETH Amount** | **Partial Withdrawal time for the ETH (including 27 hours 50 minutes minimum time)** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **0.1%** | 34,165 ETH | ≈ 390 epochs ≈ 1 day 17 hrs 36 mins |
| **1%** | 341,653 ETH | ≈ 1,592 epochs ≈ 7 days 1 hrs 49 mins |
| **10%** | 3,416,532 ETH | ≈ 13,609 epochs ≈ 60 days 10 hrs 18 mins |
| **25%** | 8,541,331 ETH | ≈ 33,621 epochs ≈ 149 days 12 hrs 54 mins |
| **50%** | 17,082,662 ETH | ≈ 66,985 epochs ≈ 297 days 17 hrs 4 mins |

*The above table assumes that in each epoch only 256 ETH can be withdrawn or exited from the Beacon Chain.*

### Scenario Planning: Full Exit Withdrawals

| **Percentage of ETH being withdrawn** | **ETH Amount** | **Withdrawal time for the validator last in the queue (including 27 hours 50 minutes minimum time)** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **0.1%** | 34,165 ETH | ≈ 390 epochs ≈ 1 day 17 hrs 36 mins + [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) |
| **1%** | 341,653 ETH | ≈ 1,592 epochs ≈ 7 days 1 hrs 49 mins + [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) |
| **10%** | 3,416,532 ETH | ≈ 13,609 epochs ≈ 60 days 10 hrs 18 mins + [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) |
| **25%** | 8,541,331 ETH | ≈ 33,621 epochs ≈ 149 days 12 hrs 54 mins + [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) |
| **50%** | 17,082,662 ETH | ≈ 66,985 epochs ≈ 297 days 17 hrs 4 mins + [Sweep Delay](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained?hs_amp=true#sweepdelay) |

*The above table assumes that in each epoch only 256 ETH can be withdrawn or exited from the Beacon Chain.*

### Gas Fee Considerations: User-Triggered Withdrawals Cost

When the Pectra hard-fork is activated on Mainnet, every user-triggered withdrawal will carry an additional **withdrawal-request fee**. This fee, paid in **ETH** on top of normal gas, rises or falls with network load: it is adjusted block-by-block according to the size of the **backlog**—that is, how many withdrawal requests have recently been processed **above the target of two per block**. The fee is computed with the formula:

Where:

- **fee** is the withdrawal-request fee, denominated in **wei**; 
- **backlog** is the running total, for each block, of withdrawal requests processed **above 2 per block**; and
- **Note:** 1 ETH = 10¹⁸ wei.

The minimum fee is always **1 wei,** so **if** **backlog is 0**, then the **withdrawal-request fee** will be **1 wei**. As **backlog** grows, the fee increases exponentially—about **12.5% more** each time the queue grows by two. During quieter periods when there are fewer than two requests per block, **backlog** will decrease towards zero.

### Scenario Planning: Withdrawal Request Fee Table

To further explain how the **withdrawal request fee** changes depending on **backlog** requests, the following table illustrates this using an example:

| **Backlog (Requests Above Target)** | **Withdrawal-Request Fee (ETH)** |
| --- | --- |
| **50** | 0.000000000000000019 |
| **200** | 0.000000000000128632 |
| **500** | 0.000005934267440044 |
| **600** | 0.002128337699255548 |
| **650** | 0.040306700584467864 |
| **680** | 0.235385266837020000 |
| **700** | 0.763332864222730400 |

### Ready to Stake?

Pier Two is Pectra-ready. Contact Pier Two today to learn how we can help you stake ETH and prepare for the Pectra Upgrade.

[View full post](https://connect.bitminetech.io/blog/pectra-withdrawals-explained)

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