My experience with staking coins

Proof of Stake coins don't require any mining equipment, just a wallet that is open 24/7 for staking, and there are profits to be made if you choose your coin correctly.

Here are my observations based on my experience to date:

First of all you need to understand how staking really works: it is based on individual inputs, and each input attempts to stake once a second. Therefore in a day, each input in your wallet will have 86,400 attempts. The input with the highest weight in the network usually wins - and here is where it gets interesting.

Weight is a function of how big the input is, and the age of the input. Most coins will specify a minimum age and a maximum age for staking. Once your input reaches it's maximum age, it will be at it's maximum weight. If that weight is below that of the rest of the network, you will never get to mint new coins.

So here is my first tip: when experimenting with staking, start with the maximum size input you can. Ignore the "recommended size" of the inputs in the announcement threads on Bitcointalk.org. They are usually too small, and you will end up wasting a lot of time as you realize you are not staking and need to combine inputs and wait till they reach the minimum age. For example, Hyperstake recommends inputs of 6000 coins to maximize return - in reality only inputs with about 15,000 coins are staking, and you won't make any return at all if you stick to 6000.

Once a coin stakes, the input is automatically split and the two new inputs are created (this is the "coinstake" transaction) and they then have to age up to minimum time before they stake again.

Second tip: you don't have to allow this process to continue automatically - instead you can immediately recombine your inputs and then let them age, to ensure you have a higher weight. This is the stage where you get a chance to experiment with the optimum size of the inputs. This is particularly important if the amount minted is a flat amount. Using Hyperstake as an example again, the maximum new coins an input can mint is 1000. So obviously if your input is very large, your % return per stake will be low. The ideal you are aiming for is an input that is large enough to have enough weight, but small enough so that the return per input is high. And having a lot of optimal inputs means that the chances that one of them will stake will increase.

If all this sounds like a bit of work, that is only the case in the beginning while you are figuring out the particular quirks of the coin you are staking. Once you have cracked it, simply leave your wallet open for staking and mint money!

Related article: You may also wish to read about My experience with lending on Poloniex.