A negative balance occurs when a purchase of crypto or a deposit of cash into your Coinbase account is not successfully paid by your bank or card issuer.
How a negative balance happens
You deposit cash or buy crypto using a bank account or debit card.
Coinbase credits the deposited amount to your account, allowing you to buy, sell, and trade crypto
Within five days, Coinbase requests the cash from your bank
Your bank reverses or declines the transfer and the cash value is returned to your bank or card issuer.
Coinbase attempts to reclaim the cash from your account.
Unsuccessful cash reclamation occurs when value of crypto drops or funds are transferred off-site.
Coinbase will place a hold on your account, preventing you from being able to buy, sell, or trade until you pay the owed balance.
You can see your transaction history by following the instructions here.
Resolve your negative balance
Resolve your negative balance here. The timeframe for initiating the automatic recovery process after a charge reversal varies based on the type of reversal. If payment for a reversed charge is not received within 1-5 days, Coinbase will begin the recovery process within 1 day but no later than 5 days from the time the transaction was reversed.
A yellow pop-up banner will advise you that a transaction was reversed. Select Make Payment and choose a payment method from the drop-down menu.
Payment options:
Your Coinbase cash balance.
You can send crypto from an external wallet to your Coinbase account (you can find your Coinbase addresses here).
A linked bank account.
If you don't have a bank account linked, you can link a new one.
Debit cards can't be used to resolve a negative balance.
Payment requirements
You must deposit the owed amount within five days of receiving the notice, otherwise, Coinbase will sell crypto in your account to cover the outstanding balance. If your account doesn't have enough crypto, the hold will remain until you deposit the amount you owe.