How to externally verify that your balance is correct
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Feel like your ETH balance is wrong? Do you think you should have more or fewer tokens? Here is a process to verify your balances outside of MetaMask.
Etherscan, an Ethereum block explorer, has tools to help you visualize and confirm when your balances changed, and how much. This article will focus on two of those tools: the ETH Balance Checker, and the Token Balance Checker. The process is the same for both tools, so choose the appropriate one from the links below. If you're confused about the difference between ETH and tokens, check out our guide.
Most block explorers for other EVM-compatible networks, such as Polygonscan or Snowtrace, will have similar functions.
Etherscan Balance Checker Tools
If you're concerned about your ETH balance, Etherscan's ETH Balance Checker is here. If it's a different token, use this one.
For example, let's say you received some ETH, and looking at your balance, you feel like it's not right. Well, copy your MetaMask wallet address and paste it into the checker, enter today's date, and click "Lookup".
For the token checker, you'll need some additional information: the contract address of the token, and you'll have to choose whether you're looking for the balance of that token held by a particular address, or if you're just interested in the global supply of that token (in which case you won't be able to enter a wallet address).
You will be presented with a few pieces of information. First of all, you will have "snapshot" information regarding your balance today, and underneath that, there will be a historical graph showing you the changes in your balance over time. Moving your mouse along that graph, and looking at the different balances at different points in time, might be enough to allow you to see what happened. Notice that in the upper left-hand corner of the graph, you can adjust the length of time represented.
Try this, though: again, let's suppose the transaction you're investigating happened today. Well, put in yesterday's date. You'll see a very helpful comparison on the right side of the "snapshots", titled "QUANTITY CHANGED". This value is a 'Comparison of your latest ETH value (in other words, how much ETH you have right now) versus the selected block or date'. Does that number match up with the amount that you expected to be going in or out of your account?
It should be noted that if you need to get really granular with this tool, you can, by looking up block number, rather than date. This could be helpful if you made more than one transaction on the same day.