Base vs reward APY
Yield & returnsBase APY comes from organic borrowing demand or trading fees. Reward APY comes from token emissions and is contingent on the incentive programme continuing.
Base yield is what survives when incentives stop. It is the honest floor of a pool's return.
Reward yield is real income while it lasts, but it is paid in a token whose price you must sell into — and emissions schedules are typically finite and revocable.
A 14% pool that is 2% base and 12% rewards is a different instrument from a 6% pool that is entirely base.
Why it matters
Sizing a position off reward APY is how holders end up locked into a pool that yields 1% next quarter.
See it in action
Related terms
Annualised return of a pool or product, usually the trailing rate as reported by the protocol. It is a backward-looking observation, not a promise.
USD.NET's A–E grade for how likely a pool's yield is to persist, built from depth, reward sustainability and TVL/peg stability.
Headline APY discounted by the pool's durability rating, so a fragile 20% and a robust 6% can be compared on one axis.