Should I set an extremely high gas price while participating in a popular token crowdsale?

Question

Am I right that

1. Gas amount in this case is constant or at least predictable
   • How to figure it out? Using this answer? - How do I know how much gas to use when calling a contract?
   • Or maybe there is some average 'recommended' gas amout for this kind of contracts?
2. Setting gas price higher and higher is the best strategy for each competing buyers that is natural due to high demand to get tokens first
   • How to figure out the adequate price?
   • What can it depend on (interest in particular token, contract specificities, number of buyers...)?
   • Can I use the normal price not being a looser?

Answer 1

One thing to understand is that there is gas and then gas price. The gas represents the amount of computation executing a transaction or contract will require. The gas price is the price paid for the gas. So the cost of a transaction is Gas * Gas Price.

If the network is saturated miners will prioritize transactions with the highest gas price.

So there are two things to account for: how much gas to use and what to pay for the gas. Many groups running a token sale have a recommended amount of gas to use for the transaction because they know that is what their contract code will require.

To increase your chances of success during a token sale you should make sure you are supplying sufficient gas, and also pay a competitive gas price.

Answer 2

Everything @AKstate said. To help reduce guesswork you can discover the current congestion level and set an informed gasPrice bid.

https://ethgasstation.info/

This is one way a lot of sale sites get their "suggested" bid data for you. If it's important to you to see it confirm quickly, you can nudge it up a little higher. Bidding for priority is how the network resolves congestion.

Hope it helps.