Stake Your ADA
Cardano staking is the simplest way to earn passive income on your ADA. No lockups, no minimums, no complicated DeFi risk — just delegate and collect rewards every 5 days.
No Lockup
Your ADA stays in your wallet — move or spend it any time
~3–5% APR
Rewards paid every 5 days (one epoch), auto-compounding
~2.17 ADA
One-time delegation fee: ~0.17 ADA tx fee + 2 ADA deposit (refundable)
How It Works
Four steps from zero to earning rewards. Takes less than 5 minutes.
01
Choose a stake pool
Research pools on pool.pm or adapools.org. Check saturation (stay below 90%), fees, pledge, and historical ROA. A well-run small pool can return as much as a large one.
02
Delegate from your wallet
Open Eternl, Lace, or Vespr and tap Delegate. Your ADA never leaves your wallet — delegation only registers a staking key on-chain. You keep full control.
03
Wait ~2 epochs (~10 days)
Your delegation becomes active after one epoch (5 days), and your first rewards appear after a second epoch. Total wait: about 10–15 days from delegation.
04
Collect rewards automatically
Rewards are paid to your wallet every epoch (every 5 days). They are added to your delegated balance automatically, compounding your position over time.
Choosing the Right Pool
Not all stake pools perform equally. Here are the metrics that actually matter.
Live Stake
Stay below 90% saturation
Oversaturated pools pay reduced rewards. Saturation point is ~68M ADA.
Fixed Fee
Min 340 ADA / epoch
Protocol minimum. Paid before variable margin — a cost to the pool, not you directly.
Variable Margin
1–3%
The pool operator's cut of rewards. Lower is better for delegators.
Pledge
Higher is better
The operator's own ADA locked in. Signals long-term commitment and skin in the game.
ROA
~3–5% annualized
Historical annualized return. Reflects actual performance over recent epochs.
Recommended Tools
Use these community-built tools to research and compare stake pools before delegating.
Ready to stake your first ADA?