How to stake SOL

What do you need before you start?

The staking itself takes a few minutes. Sorting out these four things first avoids the most common mistakes:

• SOL in a wallet you control. Phantom, Solflare and Backpack all support native staking, which means staking directly with a validator from your own wallet. If your SOL is on an exchange, withdraw it to your wallet first. Exchange staking is a different product with its own rules; see Exchange staking or your own wallet?
• Enough SOL to stake. There is a minimum amount per stake (wallets currently ask for about 1 SOLNeeds verification), plus a small refundable deposit.
• About 0.05 SOL left over. Every transaction costs a small fee, and later you'll need two more transactions to unstake and withdraw. Don't stake your whole balance.
• A validator picked in advance. This matters more than which wallet you use. The section below shows how to pick one.

You never need your seed phrase to stake. Staking only asks you to approve a transaction inside your own wallet. If a site, an app or a "support agent" asks for your recovery phrase, or tells you to *send* SOL to an address to stake it, that's a scam.

What happens to my SOL when I stake it?

Your SOL doesn't go to the validator. Your wallet creates a stake account, a separate account on the Solana blockchain that holds the SOL you stake, and only your wallet controls it. The stake account lends your SOL's weight to the validator you chose, and the validator uses that weight to help run the network. The network pays rewards for this once per epoch, Solana's reward period of about 1–2 days. The validator keeps its commission (its cut), and you get the rest.

This is why your main balance drops after you stake. The SOL has moved to the stake account, which most wallets list in a separate staking section. It's easy to read that drop as "my SOL is gone", but it hasn't gone anywhere. It's in a different place inside the same wallet. The wallet also puts a small deposit into the stake account, around 0.002 SOL, because every account on Solana has to hold a minimum balance to exist.

The validator never holds your coins, so it can't take them. The worst a badly run validator can do is go offline or raise its commission. Either one costs you rewards, not SOL. Solana has no slashing today, so no on-chain penalty takes stake away. The details are in Is staking SOL safe?

How do I pick a validator?

Your wallet will probably suggest one. The suggestion usually comes with no reason attached, and you rarely see the alternatives next to it. Choosing for yourself takes a few minutes if you know what to look at:

• Fees. Inflation commission is the validator's cut of your regular rewards. Some validators run Jito, software that collects MEV tips (extra payments from traders who want their transactions in a certain order). Those validators also take an MEV commission on the tips.
• Uptime. An offline validator earns you nothing until it's back.
• Track record. Look for a long history without sudden commission raises. Some new validators start at 0% and raise their fees once the stake arrives.

Our validator pages show all of this in one place: a one-line verdict under the name, a 0–100 Score, the fees and a 90-day uptime strip. The full checklist is in How to choose a Solana validator.

Once you've decided, copy the validator's vote account from its page. That's the address your stake will point at. Pasting it is the surest way to find the right validator in your wallet.

How do I stake SOL in Phantom?

Needs verification: Verify against the current app.

Button names change between versions, so these steps describe the general flow.

1. Open Phantom and select the account that holds your SOL.
2. Tap your SOL, then open the Staking / Earn section.
3. If Phantom offers more than one way to stake, choose native staking (staking directly with a validator).
4. Search for the validator by name or paste its vote account. Check that the vote account matches the one on the validator's page, because names can look alike.
5. Enter the amount, leaving about 0.05 SOL unstaked.
6. Review the summary (validator, amount, network fee) and approve.
7. The new stake appears in your staking section. It's marked "activating" or something similar until the next epoch starts.

How do I stake SOL in Solflare?

Needs verification: Verify against the current app.

1. Open Solflare and select the wallet that holds your SOL.
2. Open the Staking / Earn section.
3. Solflare may show a suggested validator first. Look for the option to change it.
4. Search for your validator by name or paste its vote account, and check that the vote account matches.
5. Enter the amount, leaving about 0.05 SOL unstaked.
6. Review the summary and approve.
7. The stake appears in your staking list as activating until the next epoch.

How do I stake SOL with a Ledger?

A Ledger doesn't change how staking works, only who signs. Your keys stay on the device, and you approve every transaction on its screen. You stake through Phantom or Solflare with the Ledger connected.

Needs verification: Verify against the current app (Phantom, Solflare and Ledger firmware).

1. Update the Ledger, make sure the Solana app is installed on it, and open that app on the device.
2. In Phantom or Solflare, connect the Ledger as a hardware wallet account.
3. Select the Ledger account. The SOL you want to stake has to be in that account, not in a regular one.
4. Follow the Phantom or Solflare steps above.
5. When the wallet asks for approval, read the details on the Ledger's screen and confirm there.
6. If the wallet reports a Ledger error, check that the device is unlocked and the Solana app is open. If that doesn't fix it, see your wallet's Ledger help page.

You'll need the device again later. Unstaking and withdrawing are two more transactions, and the Ledger has to approve both.

When do my staking rewards arrive?

New stake has to wait for an epoch change before it starts working, so your first reward takes longer than the ones after it.

In practice, expect your first reward about two epoch changes after you stake. It can take longer at busy times. The network limits how much new stake can switch on in one epoch, so some of it may have to wait for the next one.

Rewards go into the stake account, not your main balance, and from then on they earn rewards too. How Solana staking pays you explains how the amounts add up.

How do I know my stake is working?

Wallet app reviews contain lines like "I cannot view my solana staking earnings" and "I can't find my staked SOL." Staked SOL sits in a stake account, away from the balance you normally check, so it's easy to lose track of.

There are two ways to keep an eye on it:

1. Check your validator's page now and then. The verdict line shows right away whether it's offline or has raised its fees, and the uptime strip covers the last 90 days.
2. Let our Telegram bot watch it. Give the bot your wallet's public address. It reports your rewards every epoch and messages you if your validator goes offline or changes its commission. A public key can't sign transactions or move SOL, and the bot never asks for your seed phrase.