# How transaction monitoring works

Source: https://help.didit.me/transactions-monitoring/transaction-monitoring-basics
Updated: 2026-10-12

Submit transactions, rules evaluate them in real time, and risky ones raise alerts and cases - $0.02 per screened transaction.

You submit each transaction, Didit evaluates it against your rules in real time,
and returns a status and score. Risky transactions raise alerts, which group into
cases for an analyst. **$0.02 per screened transaction**; AML counterparty and
wallet screening is priced separately.

## Where it sits

[Video: Catch fraud in real time: the rule engine - Didit Academy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhm63_n7HuU)

[Video: Transaction monitoring rules: velocity conditions and back-testing - Didit Academy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF6IOZkUtNA)

Identity verification answers "who is this?" at onboarding. Transaction monitoring answers "is this activity normal?" afterwards. They're separate products on the same platform, and a regulated business usually needs both - onboarding checks alone tell you nothing about what a customer does once they're in.

![The Transactions list in the Didit console with each transaction's rule hits, risk score and status](https://help.didit.me/screenshots/transactions-light.webp)

*Submitted transactions with their rule hits, risk scores and statuses.*

## Where it is in the console

Open **Transaction monitoring & Travel Rule** in the sidebar. Its tabs are **Overview** (your transaction analytics: count, average amount, volume and the rules triggered), **Transactions**, **Rules**, **Crypto monitoring** (greyed out where it isn't available yet), **Travel Rule** and **Settings**, plus a link to **Events**. See [products and what they include](https://help.didit.me/account-organization/products).

On **Transactions**, the views split what needs you (**Needs review**) from the rest (**All**, **Declined**, and **Ready to accept** and **Flagged** where they're available). Click a transaction for a preview that explains why it was held, declined or passed, with its risk and timeline, and decide right there: **Approve** releases it, and **Change status** changes a decision already taken. **Hold** and **Block** from the preview, and **Open case**, are rolling out and may be greyed out for you. Select several to act on them together. Press **Sample transaction** in **More actions**, in Sandbox, to watch a rule fire without wiring anything up.

Where case management is available, cases opened from transactions are listed under **Case management → Cases** in the same panel. See [working with cases](https://help.didit.me/investigations/cases).

## The flow

1. **Submit the transaction**

   Your backend sends the transaction as it happens, with your own identifier (`txn_id`), the amount, currency, direction, and the parties involved.

2. **Rules evaluate it**

   Your configured rules run in real time - thresholds, velocity checks, counterparty checks, and any custom logic. The transaction comes back with a status, a score, and a severity.

3. **Alerts and cases**

   Transactions that trip a rule raise alerts. Alerts group into cases so an analyst works a customer's pattern rather than isolated events.

4. **Webhooks keep you in sync**

   `transaction.created` fires with the initial verdict; `transaction.status.updated` fires whenever it changes afterwards - analyst action, remediation, a blocklist match, or a provider update.

## Rules are the product

Everything useful about transaction monitoring is in the rules, and they're yours to configure. Broadly they cover:

- **Amount thresholds** - single transactions above a limit.
- **Velocity** - many transactions in a window, or a total crossing a limit.
- **Structuring patterns** - repeated amounts just under a reporting threshold.
- **Counterparty risk** - who is on the other side.
- **Direction** - inbound and outbound treated differently, which they usually should be.
- **Geography** - jurisdictions in your risk assessment.

Didit ships a rules library as a starting point. Treat it as a starting point: a rule set that isn't tuned to your product's normal behaviour will either alert on everything or nothing. See the [rules library](https://docs.didit.me/transaction-monitoring/rules-library).

## Fiat and crypto

Rules cover both fiat and crypto flows. If you're configuring crypto monitoring and the rule inputs read as fiat-oriented, that's worth raising with your Didit contact rather than working around - the shape of what you need to express matters more than forcing it into a field that nearly fits.

Crypto brings a second dimension: the address on the other side has its own on-chain risk profile. That's wallet screening. See [wallet screening and crypto](https://help.didit.me/transactions-monitoring/wallet-screening).

## Linking transactions to verified identities

The value of monitoring multiplies when a transaction is attributable to a verified person. Use consistent identifiers - `vendor_data` for the user, `vendor_business_data` for a business - so a transaction, its alerts, and the identity behind it resolve to the same entity. Without that, you're monitoring anonymous flows.

## Statuses and your own state

Transaction statuses are their own set, separate from verification session statuses. Don't reuse your KYC mapping for them. See [transaction statuses](https://docs.didit.me/transaction-monitoring/statuses).

## What it costs

| | Price |
|---|---|
| Transaction screening (rules, scoring, velocity, cases, alerts) | $0.02 per transaction |
| Wallet verification & screening (counterparty sanctions, crypto wallet risk) | from $0.15, or $0.02 with your own provider key |
| Travel Rule | $0.02 per outbound transfer |

Each of these is billed on its own line. A Travel Rule transfer is billed on its own $0.02 line **instead of** the standard screening fee, never both. See [Travel Rule](https://help.didit.me/transactions-monitoring/travel-rule).

## If wallet screening or a feature looks unavailable

Some monitoring capabilities are enabled per organization. If the console shows a feature as unavailable or coming soon and you need it, ask support to confirm what's enabled on your account rather than assuming it's a configuration you've missed.

## Regulatory reporting

If your obligation includes filing suspicious activity reports, Didit's case management can produce regulatory reports from a case. Which report formats and which regulators are supported is a factual question for your Didit contact - don't design a filing process around an assumption. See [regulatory reports](https://docs.didit.me/management-api/regulatory-reports/list).