START TRANSACTION SQL - Language Statements START TRANSACTION start a transaction block START TRANSACTION START TRANSACTION [ ISOLATION LEVEL { READ COMMITTED | SERIALIZABLE } ] [ READ WRITE | READ ONLY ] This command begins a new transaction. If the isolation level or read/write mode is specified, the new transaction has those characteristics, as if was executed. In all other respects, the behavior of this command is identical to the command. See under about the meaning of the parameters. This command conforms to the SQL standard; but see also the compatibility section of .