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“What are Early GMX Stakers Doing?”
Sandra Leow
main
Key Takeaways
8 min read
  • GMX is one of the most profitable protocols, generating over $337k daily in fees even surpassing Bitcoin, Aave, Curve, and majority of its counterparties.

  • “Early GMX Stakers” refers to the top 100 addresses ranked by the amount and time spent staking GMX within the first month of GMX’s launch.

  • This label was built to capitalize on the GMX narrative and help users surface some alpha on Arbitrum, given that GMX represents 39% of Arbitrum’s TVL.

  • As of 15 Oct 2022, 25 addresses completely exited their staked GMX position. Compared to the previous snapshot of 40 addresses staking >9000 GMX, the pool has been reduced to 22 addresses.

  • Wallet 0xf73 (🤓 Smart Dex Trader) has been an active GMX staker since 11 September 2021. Despite the volatility in GMX prices, this address continues to hold its GMX position with extreme conviction.

  • Besides GMX, a large portion of these addresses are diversified across blue-chip farms. Some of the top protocols are Convex, Uniswap, Rari Capital, LooksRare, Illuvium, Loopring, Dopex, Hop Protocol, PlutusDAO, etc.

Introduction

GMX has continuously proven to sustain itself and attract sufficient liquidity, despite an ongoing sideways market. According to CryptoFees, GMX is one of the most profitable protocols, generating over $337k daily in fees even surpassing Bitcoin, Aave, Curve, and majority of its counterparties. Value accrual to the GMX token remains extremely strong, as 30% of the platform fees are redistributed back to GMX stakers. This is a major incentive for GMX stakers to continue staking their tokens and to receive a decent yield in return. With the majority of alt-tokens hitting ATLs due to worsening market conditions, GMX has outperformed and managed to break new highs. More recently, GMX was also listed on FTX and Binance spot. GMX has built an incredible moat with new partnerships with Rage Trade, BreederDODO, Jones DAO, TreasureDAO, and many others.

In light of GMX’s successes over the past few months, we’ve decided to partner with our attributions team to come up with an Early GMX Staker tag. This tag refers to the top 100 addresses ranked by the amount and time spent staking GMX within the first month of GMX’s launch. The goal for this label is to identify and front-run any new narratives and trends “Early GMX Stakers” may be involved in.

Methodology

  • “Early GMX Staker” refers to the top 100 addresses ranked by the amount and time spent staking GMX within the first month of GMX’s launch.
  • This label was built to capitalize on the GMX narrative and help users surface some alpha on Arbitrum, given that GMX constitutes 39% of Arbitrum’s TVL.
  • Additionally, the goal of the label and report is to also identify other farms that Early GMX Stakers are currently investing in.

When picking the parameters for the yield farms we want to investigate further, we set benchmarks following GMX’s performance.

Parameters for yield farms

Age of contract: ≥ 10 months (GMX launched about a year ago) Avg TVL: ≥ 100M (GMX had an average TVL of 150m for the past 2.5 months) Avg APY: ≥ 20% (GMX had an average APY of 20% for the past 2.5 months) Audits: Yes

Other things to consider:

  • Our query tracks sbfGMX (receipt token for staking GMX), which takes into account all staking and unstaking events to calculate the sbfGMX token holdings.
  • This might differ slightly from the data on Nansen Portfolio or our wallet profiler feature on-chain. We chose to include sbfGMX in our results to get the actual value of GMX the users have staked. sbfGMX that is sent for vesting is also important as they continue to earn rewards and users are technically still utilizing the platform - whether actively or passively.

How many “Early GMX Stakers” are still staking their GMX?

To understand how many “Early GMX Stakers” are still staking their GMX, a snapshot was taken between 21 August 2021 to 6 October 2021 on the amount of GMX staked by “Early GMX Stakers”.

40 addresses were staking >9000 GMX when the snapshot was taken. 31 addresses were also staking between 1000 and 5000 GMX. The rest of the addresses were spread out between lower values.

Nansen Query
Source: Nansen Query

As of 15 Oct 2022, 25 addresses completely exited their staked GMX position. Compared to the previous snapshot of 40 addresses staking >9000 GMX, the pool has been reduced to 22 addresses. This could imply that most of the early GMX Stakers still have relatively high conviction on the long-term successes of the protocol. Compared to the previous snapshot of 31 addresses staking between 1000 and 5000 GMX, the pool has also decreased to 12 addresses as of now.

25 addresses have 100-1000 GMX staked, which implies that most of the Early GMX Stakers are still holding on to their GMX despite derisking their initial staked position.

Largest current holdings from “Early GMX Stakers”

  • This section accounts for some of the top “Early GMX Staker” addresses with the biggest GMX holdings as of writing.
  • The purpose of this section is for users to discover, track, and analyze some of the biggest diamond hands for GMX.

Below, the team scoped out a list of addresses with some of the largest staked GMX positions:

AddressLabel on Nansen
0xf731f4c74eae61dfa88e0b6a13f9d2624bf2b16fSmart Dex Trader
0x18a209d21c7316c4d678170787aae15a5a2c2720NFT Collector
0xd4ad5d62dce1a8bf661777a5c1df79bd12ac8f1dSmart LP
0x8d3c2279aaddeaf54e70fb28c5d7eedd7674d9c6n/a
0x8003facaa0a0a669feb60a6362908ce5e720eb53Medium DEX Trader
0x226bf1ee0bb0cf647f6a9f0d8b380d6ab56de3cbMedium DEX Trader
0x4e968d77aec3e74aa0884ac3cf13c3f98c570f38“BiggieM” on Opensea
0x16f037a3ddf53da1b047a926e1833219f0a8e1fctybg.eth
0xd03d26b36642c8137c77ae8fe91e205252db1095Blue Chip NFT Holder
0x0fa8797eec1fdc55ad43f1843cac9d35724c1271n/a
0x46d5d2a3229b0f6d3efee8567f6b63e1610cd2dc“Zaiaz” on OpenSea
0xd6484a997129938709fab588fd6f55b0a684ab56emeta.eth
0x034302c77dcc0d8168a2d2c0c13c36becae21d11DEX Trader
0x681ada67950d96dcc9f2951d32353663ed6e59c9Smart DEX Trader
0x9aef7c447f6bc8d010b22aff52d5b67785ed942cthreediamonds.eth
0xf672c51eaca83796c35da65074fb6a01ef14f29fDEX Trader
0x6f5eea1e20e69c5db953db53267d0ab99b98bb03Blue Chip NFT Holder
0xd9a11e21e5ee82e2beadab268da69ce1b03a55dbMedium DEX Trader
0x49f329ca3eab5dfd6fcc4bfe05bc366bd108a68en/a
0xa0a6dc36041fb386378458006fecbddd02555dddGRT Distribution Participant; Elite DEX Trader
0x834bd42d09717b4840c904ed712a7d57c100f5bbdoxxmyass.eth

Notable On-Chain Behavior of Specific Wallets

  • Wallet 0xf731f4c74eae61dfa88e0b6a13f9d2624bf2b16f (🤓 Smart Dex Trader)
Nansen Query
Source: Nansen Query

Wallet 0xf73 (🤓 Smart Dex Trader) has been an active GMX staker since 11 September 2021. Despite the volatility in GMX prices, this address continues to hold its GMX position with extreme conviction. Currently, Wallet 0xf73 (🤓 Smart Dex Trader) is holding a $5.6m position on GMX. This address is also an active farmer in various protocols which will be covered below.

Besides GMX, Wallet 0xf73 is staking $3.8m USDC on dYdX, which represents 26.9% of its overall portfolio. This address also has a large position in Convex relative to the total portfolio size. Specifically, this user is farming on the SCURVE pool, receiving rewards in CRV, SNX, and CVX. Interestingly, this user also has a relatively small position in Thales Market (on Optimism).

  • Wallet 0x16f037a3ddf53da1b047a926e1833219f0a8e1fc (tybg.eth)
Nansen Query
Source: Nansen Query

Wallet 0x16f has shown a perfect example of buy low sell the top for GMX. This user caught the near bottom of GMX earlier this year in June, and sold the local top in mid-September.

Despite Wallet 0x16f selling off almost 50% of their staked GMX holdings, the token still represents 42.18% of their overall protocol allocation (~$1.4m). Besides GMX, this address is also diversified into Curve, Aave v2, spot assets, Illuvium, and Lyra.

Interestingly, this address has a $58k USD position in staked Illuvium. There are two core pools in the Illuvium protocol, both pools offer a minimum lock of 1 month and a maximum lock of 12 months.

  • Wallet 0x5a27dbbff05f36dc927137855e3381f0c20c1cdd ( 🤓 "barbellcap.eth" on Ethereum)

Wallet 0x5a ( 🤓 "barbellcap.eth" on Ethereum), also labelled as a smart money wallet address has made quite a decent profit trading GMX.

Nansen Query
Source: Nansen Query

Although this wallet is no longer an active wallet address, there are a couple of similar addresses that may or may not be associated with 🤓 "barbellcap.eth" on Ethereum. Check it out here.

  • Wallet 0xd4ad5d62dce1a8bf661777a5c1df79bd12ac8f1d (🤓 Smart LP on Ethereum)
Nansen Query
Source: Nansen Query

This Smart LP address has been accumulating staked GMX up to 4 May 2022. From 4 May to 19 May, this address sold more than 50% of its staked GMX position. Despite selling over 50% of their position in May, this user started accumulating a small position of staked GMX across various time periods when the price of GMX started picking up. The Smart LP address sold most of its position during the local lows of the GMX price YTD. As of 14 Oct 2022, Smart LP address is still staking $1.33m worth of GMX, primarily vesting their esGMX.

Top Verticals Interacted with by “Early GMX Stakers”

  • Majority of the other verticals that “Early GMX Stakers” tend to interact with are DeFi protocols (41 tags).
  • This is followed by CEX exchanges (32 tags), NFT (31 tags), Bridges, DAOs, NFT Marketplaces, etc.
  • Generally, based on our analysis of the top verticals interacted with by “Early GMX Stakers”, these addresses are quite holistic when it comes to their interactions and investments.
  • As expected, DeFi protocols take up the majority of the interactions with “Early GMX Stakers”. These DeFi protocols are most likely associated with farming and staking opportunities, which we will dive further into later.
Nansen Query
Source: Nansen Query

Farming Opportunities

  • Based on our analysis, an overwhelming majority of the initial GMX stakers still continue to stake on the GMX platform a year after GMX’s inception.
  • Besides GMX, a large portion of these addresses are diversified across blue-chip farms. Some of the top protocols are Convex, Uniswap, Rari Capital, LooksRare, Illuvium, Loopring, Dopex, Hop Protocol, PlutusDAO, etc.
  • Discounting GMX, Convex represents the top protocol in which “Early GMX Stakers” are depositing in currently.
Nansen Query
Source: Nansen Query
Protocols# of Addresses
Convex11
Uniswap8
Rari Capital8
LooksRare7
Illuvium6
Loopring6
Dopex6
Uniswap V36
Hop Protocol4
PlutusDAO4
Aave v24
Balancer4
ETH24
FRAX4
Abracadabra4
Instadapp3
Lido Finance3
Element Finance3
Stakewise3
dYdX3
Synthetix3
Ribbon3
Tokemak2
Uniswap Arbitrum2
TreasureDAO2
Vesta Finance2

Setting up Smart Alerts for “Early GMX Stakers”

  1. Go to Smart Alerts section on Nansen
  1. Add our newly launched “Early GMX Staker” label
  1. Set parameters (min. USD value, token transfers, exclude specific addresses, etc.) and you're all set!
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Disclosure: The authors of this content and members of Nansen may be participating or invested in some of the protocols or tokens mentioned herein. The foregoing statement acts as a disclosure of potential conflicts of interest and is not a recommendation to purchase or invest in any token or participate in any protocol. Nansen does not recommend any particular course of action in relation to any token or protocol. The content herein is meant purely for educational and informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as financial, investment, legal, tax or any other professional or other advice. None of the content and information herein is presented to induce or to attempt to induce any reader or other person to buy, sell or hold any token or participate in any protocol or enter into, or offer to enter into, any agreement for or with a view to buying or selling any token or participating in any protocol. Statements made herein (including statements of opinion, if any) are wholly generic and not tailored to take into account the personal needs and unique circumstances of any reader or any other person. Readers are strongly urged to exercise caution and have regard to their own personal needs and circumstances before making any decision to buy or sell any token or participate in any protocol. Observations and views expressed herein may be changed by Nansen at any time without notice. Nansen accepts no liability whatsoever for any losses or liabilities arising from the use of or reliance on any of this content.