How to stake SOL with a Ledger

What do you need?

• A Ledger with the Solana app v1.2.0 or newer and the latest Ledger OS.
• Ledger Wallet (formerly Ledger Live) on your computer or phone.
• SOL in the account, plus at least 0.01 SOL left over for transaction costs.

How do you stake in Ledger Wallet?

1. Open the Solana app on the device ("Application is ready").
2. In Ledger Wallet, go to Accounts, pick your Solana account and tap Earn.
3. In the pop-up, pick a validator (see below), then Continue.
4. Enter the amount, Continue, and approve on the device's screen.

The stake usually becomes active after about one epoch (about 2 days), sometimes longer; Ledger says up to 3 days. Rewards then build up each epoch and don't show as transactions, so track them in the Earn tab.

Who picks the validator?

You do. Ledger Wallet preselects one option in the pop-up; click Show all to see the others. The list is capped at the top 1,000 validators by stake. The preselected option is a convenience, not a recommendation from us. Compare commission (the share of your rewards a validator keeps), uptime (how much of the time it is online) and size on our validator list first. Ledger says the return is the network yield minus a commission fee; check the rate shown before you confirm.

Can you stake through Phantom or Solflare instead?

Yes. Connect the Ledger to the Phantom browser extension (Profile, Add Account, Connect Hardware Wallet, Solana) or to Solflare, then follow the wallet's own staking steps: Phantom steps. If a transaction fails, the wallet may ask for blind signing (a setting in the Solana app that lets the device sign details it can't show). Turn it on only if asked, check the details on the device, and turn it off afterwards, as Ledger advises.

How do you unstake?

In Ledger Wallet: Accounts, your Solana account, Delegations, Manage, Deactivate, approve on the device. It becomes inactive after one or two epochs (Ledger says 3-4 days), then Manage, Withdraw and approve again. In Ledger Wallet you can't deactivate part of a delegation or add funds to an active one; start a new delegation instead.

More: how to unstake SOL.

Why can the balance look off?

MEV tips (extra income from how transactions are ordered) from validators that use Jito software land in the stake account as extra SOL that isn't staked, so balances can look mismatched. See MEV commission.