5 Things to consider when Staking(Nominating) on the SwapDEX Ecosystem
Selecting validators with 0% may also be enticing, but make sure that the validator isn’t cutting on infrastructure costs to make up for this 0% commission
NOTE: It is important to do your own research before nominating as there is a risk (of slashing) if the validator(s) of your choice misbehave.
1. Choose more than one Validator
As long as at least one of the validators you nominate is elected by the election algorithm to be in the active set, you will nominate them with your full stake. However, there is a risk of getting no rewards if you nominate very few validator candidates and none of them are chosen. Therefore, it is safer to choose as many trustworthy validators as you can (up to 16 validators per account)
2. Pay attention to commission
Block rewards are shared with nominators, but the validators set the commission that they take out for their costs before profits are given out. This rate can vary greatly.
Be aware, if you nominate a validator with 100% commission, you will get NO rewards. (These validators are not looking for nominators!)
Also, commissions can change, so it is recommended to keep an eye on who you are nominating while you are staking. The current commission rates are given under the “commission” column.
You can hide validators with commission higher than 20%, if you enable the “no 20%+ comm” button.
Selecting validators with 0% may also be enticing, but make sure that the validator isn’t cutting on infrastructure costs to make up for this 0% commission. It’s usually better to choose validators with higher commission if you trust them more, and the impact of the commission on the rewards is pretty small after all.
3. Check if the validator has verified their identity
Clicking on the validator’s name (in the Staking Overview or on the Targets page) will give a pop-up with their identity details, if they have set an on-chain identity. Since it is a decentralized system, not all validators have verified their identity with a registrar on KUSARI/SwapDEX. Validators with a verified identity are marked by a green icon (with a checkmark or chain) next to their name. This affirms that their information — which can include Twitter address, email, or website — has been confirmed.
4. Look at how much SDX/KSI the validator has committed
The “own stake” column shows how many of their own KSI/SDX coins the validator has put up as a stake and the “total stake” column shows how much your stake will count towards them.
Keep in mind though, that validators with low “self stake” doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have “skin in the game”. Usually these validators nominate themselves from other accounts, so they do run a risk of losing their own funds if they get slashed.
5. Get detailed information on the performance of particular validators
Information, such as the era points, elected stake, rewards & slashes can be found by clicking the graph icon on the far right of each validator.