Boost
StakeWise Boost is a one-click yield amplification strategy that uses osETH as collateral to borrow additional ETH on Aave and restake it in the Vault. The process repeats multiple times, resulting in a single staking position. Boost’s rewards are the surplus from the extra staked ETH’s rewards, after the Aave borrowing fee and Vault operator fees. StakeWise charges no additional fee for using Boost.
Boost executes automatically in a few steps:
- The staker deposits osETH into Boost via the Vault or Stake page.
- Boost uses the osETH as collateral on Aave to borrow ETH against it.
- The borrowed ETH is staked in the Vault, which mints new osETH.
- Steps 2–3 repeat, increasing the amount of ETH earning staking rewards.
The amount of amplification depends on the Vault's osETH LTV (how much osETH can be minted per unit of ETH staked), distinct from Aave's borrow LTV:
- 6x looping in Vaults with 90% osETH LTV
- 14x looping in Vaults with 100% osETH LTV
Over the mid-term (6+ months), Boost has historically added ~1–3 percentage points over the base staking rate, for a total APY of roughly 4–6%.
Get Started With Boost
To start using Boost right away, see this guide.
Safety
The biggest risks of any looped position are collateral depeg and LTV drift toward liquidation. Boost mitigates both by design.
No depeg liquidations. Aave values osETH using StakeWise's native price feed rather than volatile secondary-market prices, so collateral is always worth what osETH can be redeemed for. This removes depeg as a source of liquidation.
A built-in LTV buffer. If borrow costs ever exceed staking rewards, debt grows faster than collateral and LTV drifts upward; Boost keeps that drift slow and bounded. On Aave, LTV is the ratio of borrowed value to collateral value, and three numbers bound the position:
- Max LTV (93%): the most that can be borrowed against the collateral when opening a loan.
- Liquidation Threshold (95%): the point at which the position becomes undercollateralized.
- Current LTV: where the position sits now, drifting with the spread between staking APY and Aave's borrow APY.
In normal markets the drift goes the safe way: staking rewards outpace borrow costs, so collateral grows faster than debt and LTV decreases over time. Historical data ↗ shows LTV rises only about 1 day in 9, and even under a sustained negative spread liquidation from 93% would take over a year.
Automatic unboost. As a final safeguard, when a position reaches 94.5% LTV anyone can trigger an unboosting transaction on the holder's behalf, and the StakeWise core team monitors positions to do so when needed. Funds always remain under the holder's control, and since Boost never relies on the secondary market to repay debt, exits aren't exposed to slippage.
Smart-contract exposure is limited to the chosen Vault's node operators and the regularly audited StakeWise and Aave contracts.
Market Conditions
Two market-driven conditions can affect a Boost position.
When borrow APY exceeds staking APY. Boost APY depends on the spread between the Vault's staking APY and Aave's variable WETH borrow APY: it's positive when borrow APY is below staking APY, and negative when it exceeds it. The current WETH variable borrow APY can be monitored in the Borrow Info section of the WETH reserve on Aave ↗.
Negative APY Alert
A negative APY on a Boost position means the WETH borrow APY on Aave currently exceeds the Vault's staking APY. If the APY remains negative for more than 7 consecutive days, consider exiting Boost manually. Stay connected with the StakeWise Discord ↗ community for real-time updates on market conditions.
When the osETH supply cap is reached. Boost deposits osETH as collateral on Aave, which enforces a maximum supply cap. When total supplied osETH reaches this cap, no additional osETH can be deposited, making it impossible to open new boosted positions. Existing boosted positions are not affected, but new boosts cannot be initiated until supply drops below the cap. The current supply level can be monitored in the Supply Info section of the osETH reserve on Aave ↗.
Further Reading