What is Fair Value of Liquid Staking tokens?
Looking at Ankr DeFi, you can see the Difference vs. Fair value column.
Fair Value represents the ratio at which users can stake/unstake 1 token. For reward earning tokens i.e. aETHb the ratio is always 1. This is because any difference is passed to your wallet as a type of staking reward resulting from rebasing.
The Fair Value of aETHc is always higher than 1. This is because staking rewards accumulate and can be realized when users unstake. The ratio or Fair Value of aETHc is therefore continuously increasing together with ETH staking rewards.
The aETHc ratio is also applied when staking ETH to avoid existing stakers being diluted by new stakers. In other words, if the redemption value of 1 aETHc is 1.05 ETH, a new user willing to stake ETH will get 1/1.05 = 0.9524 aETHc for staking 1 ETH.
Should I Stake or Trade?
Along with the trading options, you can see the Ankr Staking row with a Stake or Unstake button depending on the source asset you choose.
Ankr DeFi Trade will compare prices on the market with Ankr's Fair Value to indicate whether it is more attractive to stake, or trade. This tool was created to help stakers make better-informed decisions.