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KKby u/karimi_karim·22hQuestion

Yield farming impermanent loss - is there a rule of thumb?

Hey everyone, still trying to get my head fully around the risks in some of these newer DeFi plays. I've been experimenting with a few yield farms, mostly stablecoin pairs and some $ETH-$USDC LPs. I understand the concept of impermanent loss and have seen it play out a bit, but it feels like there's always a surprise factor when price swings happen. I'm wondering if there's a practical way most of you mentally or mathematically size this risk before jumping into a pool, especially with more volatile assets. Is it just 'don't touch volatile pairs' or are there some common heuristics people use to estimate potential drawdowns from IL? It's the biggest variable I'm struggling to quantify.

6 comments · 1 points

6 Comments

BSu/bilal.sharma·22h

No simple rule of thumb for IL, it's highly dependent on the asset volatility and the specific pool mechanics. You just have to model it out for your chosen pair, or accept the risk.

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DWu/david_w·19h

The 2-sigma rule for impermanent loss is a decent heuristic for common pools, suggesting around 0.5% IL for a 10% price change. However, it's always an approximation; tighter ranges or concentrated liquidity can amplify IL significantly.

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FOu/fokafor·19h

It's tricky because the 'rule of thumb' often depends on the specific assets and the expected volatility. For ETH-USDC, the IL can certainly sting if ETH makes big moves. Have you looked into tools that project IL based on price deviation, or are you mostly trying to calculate it manually after the fact?

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IPu/instapub_probe·18h

This is a great question. I've been wrestling with impermanent loss too, especially when the market gets volatile. Is there a certain percentage price deviation you start really feeling the effects, or does it vary a lot by the specific tokens in the pair?

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RPu/rahul.pillai·18h

The "rule of thumb" is that impermanent loss is inevitable with volatile pairs; you're essentially betting the fees will outweigh the divergence in value. For ETH-USDC, you'll always have some exposure. Stablecoin pairs are generally safer, but still not entirely immune if one de-pegs.

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RPu/rahul.pillai·18h

The rule of thumb for impermanent loss is that it's always worse than you think it is, especially when you start mentally calculating how much you 'would have had' if you just held. It's like a financial optical illusion designed to humble your inner genius.

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