Rektember Delivers The Ultimate Gut Punch | DeFi Journey #30
The last week of September has truly reminded me why Rektember is bad for crypto. I should be happy this week as I farmed my highest weekly yield, more than doubling the yields from last week's all-time high, but my portfolio lost $1k the past week, so it doesn't paint a pretty picture. Every week I track my DeFi positions transparently by sharing the wins and losses. The point isn't just to show numbers, but to show what is working and what is not.
Sure, the past week I earned $594.78 in DeFi fees, which is by far my biggest week ever. The progression is unreal: Week 25 was $126.36, Week 29 doubled that to $264.34, and this week more than doubled again. But here's the brutal truth: the underlying assets were absolutely demolished. Crypto will give you your best week and worst week simultaneously, just to mess with your head.
Week 30 TLDR:
- Weekly Fees Earned: $594.78 (new record)
- Portfolio Value Lost: ~$1000
- Biggest Contributor: USDT/STBL with $412.90 in fees
- Positions Closed: 3
The numbers tell a story I'm still processing. Record yields should feel amazing, but when your portfolio is bleeding faster than you can farm fees, there's nothing to celebrate.
Exited CLP Positions
Three positions were closed this week:
- USDC/AERO (Base) - My longest position at 48 days finally got closed with a 17.6% total gain and $239.38 in total fees. This was one of my most consistent performers, but sometimes you must take profits when the market is this volatile.
- USDT/APX (BSC) - A quick scalp for 9.12% over about a day. Sometimes the market hands you a quick flip, and you take it.
- SYND/WETH (Base) - Closed at -40.18%. This new coin launched at $2.2 and has crashed down to sub $0.5, and while it was offering very juicy yields, I decided to exit and take the loss.
Open CLP DeFi Positions
Here's what's still standing after Rektember's assault:
- USDT/STBL (BSC) - The absolute champion, which generated more fees ($412.90) in a week than some positions do in months.
- AVNT/USDC (Base) - This position has been printing fees ($104.32) like a machine, with the perps narrative heating up. This is what you want from volatile pairs.
- ARB/USDC (Arbitrum) - A stain in my portfolio, with it down another painful 23.7% and with it being out of range, it yielded no fees the past week. I have decided not to rebalance this position as the impermanent loss will be too high.
- WETH/USDC (Base) - Similarly, ETH has decreased by almost $400 in price over the past week, and therefore, this position is also out of range, and no yields are being farmed. Another position, I have decided not to rebalance, as the impermanent loss will be too high.
- USDT/HEMI (BSC) - A small position that's up 47.96% with $36.88 in fees. These micro-positions in volatile tokens are pure lottery.
- ASTER/USDT (BSC) - the price has decreased over the past week after its euphoric rise, which aided in printing good fees. This position is still small, but it did yield $13.47 in fees the past week.
- SIRE/USDT (Base) - another small position that's leaning into the prediction markets narrative. This position yielded $2.96 in fees.
- WXPL/USDT0 (Plasma) - a new position that I opened today, so it's too early to judge, but Plasma has been stealing the limelight the past few days while all other cryptos are bleeding.
This is the brutal reality of yield farming: you can be right about the fees and wrong about the direction simultaneously. You can have your best week ever while having one of your worst weeks ever. It is enough to make you question everything.
The Bottom Line
$594.78 in fees should be cause for celebration. Instead, it feels like a consolation prize for watching $1k+ disappear from my portfolio value. Nonetheless, the journey continues, with all its ups and downs. As for next week, I am looking to continue to add my Aster and XPL positions with fees farmed. Until then, I will go touch some grass and not focus too much on the overall portfolio value.
Thank you for reading, and hope you have a good rest of the day!
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Posted Using INLEO
Indeed this was a harsh month and crypto was in the red most of the time. I hope that October will bring more upside although it is clear that the crypto cycle is quite different from the past.
its been rough man! hope for a small reprieve!
I have been thinking about trying this yield farming on liquidity pools myself just to learn and understand better but at the same time I'm already short on time. I love following this series of posts by the way.
The yield in the past weeks has been quite insane, what I do wonder thoug is if the 'loss' comes from impermanent loss or just from the value of the coins going down. If it's the 2nd it's not all too bad I would say and you are still earning a ton extra coins.
The past 2 weeks have been nuts because of chasing the perps dex narrative plays, but we are already starting to see a slowdown as more money is flowing into those pools and therefore my yields are getting smaller.
The loss comes from impermanent loss -> so, yes, I am holding more of the coins from the underperforming asset, and it would've been better just to have the tokens.
Ok, I experienced the impermanent loss way back the first time I tried to get some passive holdings on a shitcoin I once aimed to hold for the long run. That was before Uniswap invented the ranges though. The thing that holds me back with the yield farming is that it seems to be a lot of work to manage the positions. Basically, what you look for the this impossible trilemma, Low Liquidity, Low Volatility, High Volume :)
I'm looking forward to the next report! You should make a visual chart week by week with the total portfolio value and the expected yearly returns side by side.
Good suggestions, let me have a look!