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Guide

How to check Base network activity: TPS, gas and DEX volume

Add Base pulse from the Base group in the Add panel, or run Add Base pulse from the Ctrl K palette. It refreshes every 15 seconds and only reads public data. The top tiles show whether blocks are still landing, what gas costs and how live TPS compares with L2BEAT's daily figure. Under them come DefiLlama's TVL, DEX volume and stablecoin supply for Base.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Add Base pulse

    Open the Base group in the Add panel, which starts folded like every chain group, and click Base pulse. The Ctrl K palette has the same widget as Add Base pulse (gas, TPS, TVL, DEX volume), and Base Desk under New from template opens with it in the top-left corner.

  2. 2

    Check the block tile

    It shows the latest block number, the average block time over the last 30 blocks and the age of the newest block, which counts up between refreshes. After a minute with no new block the dot turns amber and the tile says stalled. Stale means Cashboard's own refresh failed or is late, not that Base stopped.

  3. 3

    Read gas and costs

    The Gas tile gives the gas price in gwei, then Transfer and Swap: 21,000 and 150,000 gas at that price, converted with Hyperliquid's ETH mid. Both leave out the L1 data fee Base charges for posting to Ethereum, so read them as a floor.

  4. 4

    Compare TPS with the day

    Throughput puts live TPS from the last 5 blocks next to a full-day average from L2BEAT and a line of daily transactions. Utilization shows how much of the gas limit the last 20 blocks used and a base fee line that turns green when fees ease and red when they climb.

  5. 5

    Read the liquidity row

    This row tracks the money on Base: TVL, 24h spot DEX volume and stablecoin supply from DefiLlama, each with its 1d, 7d or 30d change. Top DEXs below lists up to six of the busiest spot DEXs by volume, with each one's share of the day's total.

Tips

  • Base aims for one sixth of the gas limit per block, per its EIP-1559 settings. A utilization reading well above 17% means blocks are running over target, which pushes the base fee up.
  • Base's base fee cannot drop below 0.005 gwei, and Base's docs say the L1 fee, which the Gas tile leaves out, is usually the larger part of what a transaction costs.
  • The DEX volume counts spot DEXs only. DefiLlama's DEX list for Base also carries launchpads such as ZORA Coins, prediction markets and card issuers, and the widget leaves them out.
  • Click Robinhood in the header for the same tiles on Robinhood Chain, minus Utilization.

Widgets used

Terms in this guide

Frequently asked questions

How often does Base pulse refresh?

Every 15 seconds. The block age keeps counting in between, and if a refresh fails or none lands for 45 seconds, the block tile says stale instead of showing a green dot.

Why does a tile say n/a?

Its source did not answer or had nothing to report. Each source fails on its own, so blocks and gas stay up when DefiLlama is down, and TVL stays up when the RPC is. Transfer and Swap read n/a when Hyperliquid's ETH price did not load. Only when every source fails does the widget say Base pulse is temporarily unavailable, with no cached figures.

Last reviewed . Market data in Cashboard comes from the providers named on each widget and may be delayed. Nothing here is financial advice.