How to use it
- Enter the number of tokens, today's CAD price and a CAD price for the end of the period.
- Enter the gross reward rate and the validator or platform commission.
- Choose whether rewards are restaked, and how often.
- Enter the days staked (including any warm-up), the warm-up period and the unbonding period.
- Compare the token yield with the CAD result, then test a lower end price.
Three different yields
The headline rate is gross: what the network pays before the validator or platform keeps its commission. The net APR subtracts the commission: gross × (1 − commission). The effective APR goes further and spreads the rewards across every day your tokens are committed, including the warm-up before rewards start and the unbonding period after you ask to withdraw, when tokens earn nothing and cannot be sold.
The effective APR is the fairest figure for comparing staking with something you could exit the same day. It is still measured in tokens, not in dollars. In this calculator, the days staked include the warm-up, and the unbonding days are added on top.
Worked example
Illustrative inputs: 100 tokens at $50 (a $5,000 position), a 6% gross reward rate, 10% commission, daily restaking, 365 days staked of which the first 7 are warm-up, and a 21-day unbonding period.
At an unchanged price, staking adds $271.94. If the price falls to $40, the position is worth $4,217.55: $217.55 more than the same tokens left unstaked, but $782.45 below the $5,000 starting value. Rewards paid in a token cannot protect you from a fall in that token.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Net APR after 10% commission | 5.40% |
| Net APY with daily restaking | 5.55% |
| Days earning rewards | 358 |
| Reward tokens earned | 5.4388 |
| Tokens kept as commission | 0.6222 |
| Total days committed | 386 |
| Effective APR over the committed period | 5.14% |
| Value at a $50 end price | $5,271.94 |
| Value at a $40 end price | $4,217.55 (unstaked: $4,000.00) |
The unbonding window and the breakeven price drop
While tokens are unbonding they cannot be sold, whereas someone holding unstaked tokens could sell at once. The calculator reports the price fall, measured from your end price, that would wipe out the CAD value of all rewards: reward tokens ÷ end tokens. In the example it is 5.16%. If the price falls further than that during the 21-day wait, you would have done better holding unstaked tokens and selling when you started to unbond.
Volatile tokens can move more than that in a day, so a short earning period paired with a long unbonding window deserves care. Liquid staking receipts avoid the wait by letting you sell a receipt token instead, but they add smart contract risk and can trade below the value of the tokens behind them.
What else the result leaves out
The reward rate is held constant. Network reward rates often change with the total amount staked and with protocol upgrades, and rewards are frequently newly issued tokens that dilute anyone who does not stake. Staking through a platform can add fees, minimums, or terms that let the platform pause withdrawals.
The model treats commission as a simple percentage of rewards and assumes restaking is free. If restaking needs a paid transaction, the compounding calculator shows how fees change the optimal frequency.
Canadian tax pointers
CRA says rewards from staking crypto-assets on a centralized platform are generally income at the time they are credited to your account. CRA has not published guidance for self-custodied or other on-chain staking. The CAD value of rewards when received typically becomes their cost for later sales; see staking income and the ACB calculator.
Daily restaking can mean 365 reward events a year, each with a date, a unit count and a CAD value. CRA's records guidance asks for these details and recommends exporting platform histories regularly in case you lose access.