Your wallet shows a token balance, yet the transfer fails with ERC20: transfer amount exceeds balance. The token contract, not the wallet, decides what you own.
Why the contract disagrees
An ERC-20 contract keeps a balance table and reverts transfer if the amount is larger than the sender's record, as in the OpenZeppelin ERC-20 implementation. Common causes: the wrong network is selected, the wallet shows a look-alike token with a different contract, decimals were entered incorrectly in a dApp or script, the token charges a transfer fee, or the balance is locked.
What to check
- Network in the wallet versus the network where the tokens are.
- Contract address against the issuer's official one (fake USDT check).
- Decimals: USDT on Ethereum uses 6, many tokens use 18 — use the decimals converter.
- Try slightly less than the full balance.
The same message may appear in transferFrom calls made by a dApp under your approval when another transaction has already reduced the balance. Review the address history in an explorer before retrying.
Add tokens to your wallet by their official contract address rather than by name, and ignore tokens that appear unexpectedly — trying to sell them often leads to a phishing site.
Gas is not refunded
If a reverted transaction was mined, its gas is spent. This error differs from “insufficient funds for gas”, which concerns ETH, not the token. When paying a swap such as USDT to ETH, pick the USDT network in the widget; deposits from other contracts are not recognised.
FAQ
Is gas refunded after this error?
No, if the transaction was mined. The wallet usually warns you before signing.
Why does the wallet show a balance the contract rejects?
Usually a different network or a look-alike token contract.