Not Very Risky Strategy
Balanced growth through DEX liquidity provision with Aerodrome WETH-USDC pools.
Balanced growth through DEX liquidity provision with Aerodrome WETH-USDC pools.
The Not Very Risky tier delivers balanced growth by supplying liquidity to decentralized exchanges. It offers materially higher yields than lending while keeping volatility moderate, making it the natural bridge between our conservative and higher-octane strategies.
This tier launches with Aerodrome WETH-USDC LP. Additional blue-chip LP positions will be added through governance.
0x09139a80454609b69700836a9ee12db4b5dbb15f0x9bd7a4b5d5fe8c7dd39d085279306309fa6f1a150xcdac0d6c6c59727a65f871236188350531885c43Verify contract addresses on BaseScan before depositing funds.
This vault uses an LP (Liquidity Provider) token that represents your share of the WETH-USDC liquidity pool:
New to LP tokens? See our Understanding LP Tokens guide in the User Guides section for a detailed explanation of how liquidity provision works.
When you deposit USDC, the automation layer converts roughly half into WETH, adds both assets to the Aerodrome pool, and stakes the resulting LP tokens in the yield vault. Yield arrives from three sources: trading fees generated every time someone swaps between WETH and USDC, ongoing AERO incentive emissions that reward liquidity providers, and the compounding effect of reinvesting those earnings. Because the pool contains both WETH and USDC, you maintain moderate upside exposure to ETH while still anchoring half the position in a stable asset.
Impermanent Loss Risk: This strategy involves LP tokens, which can experience impermanent loss when asset prices diverge. See Understanding Impermanent Loss in the User Guides section for details.
Aerodrome WETH-USDC is one of the deepest pools on Base, with consistently high trading volume. That activity translates directly into fee income for LPs and reduces slippage during deposits and withdrawals.
Providing liquidity means your position automatically rebalances when WETH moves relative to USDC. If ETH rallies sharply, you end up holding slightly less ETH and more USDC than if you had just held both assets separately. Conversely, during ETH drawdowns the pool cushions losses by giving you more ETH at the lower price. This effect—impermanent loss—only becomes permanent when you withdraw. In normal market ranges, trading fees and incentives usually more than offset IL. During violent moves (20%+ in a day), IL can temporarily exceed fees, so active monitoring matters.
Smart contract exploits are the primary systemic risk; Aerodrome is audited but still a DeFi protocol. Market risk comes from ETH volatility, AERO price fluctuations, and changing incentive rates. Liquidity risk is moderate: withdrawing requires unwinding the LP position and swapping back to USDC, which can incur slippage if you exit during chaotic markets. Metalos tracks these factors continuously and surfaces alerts when conditions deteriorate.
This tier works best when ETH trades within a reasonable range. If you expect dramatic price swings, consider temporarily reducing exposure or rebalancing into the Extremely Safe tier.
Trading fees typically contribute two to five percentage points of APY depending on Base network volume. AERO incentives add roughly three to seven points, and compounding the rewards creates an additional 0.5-1% boost. On top of that, the WETH half of the position captures upside if ETH appreciates. Historical performance ranges from 5% to 12% APY with 1-3% daily volatility. During target market conditions this tier outperforms lending by a wide margin; during bear markets it can lag due to incentive cuts and lower trading activity.
Depositing requires a short sequence of automated steps: approve USDC, confirm a swap to WETH, approve WETH, then add liquidity and stake the LP tokens. Wallets that support batched transactions compress these confirmations into a single signature. Withdrawals reverse the process and convert everything back to USDC, usually completing within two minutes. Gas costs hover around $2-5 per round trip. The Metalos dashboard tracks IL, trading fees, incentive income, and net APY so you always know how the strategy is performing.
This tier suits intermediate DeFi users who want meaningful yield without embracing the full volatility of governance tokens. Balanced portfolios often keep 30-40% of capital here, conservative portfolios 15-25%, and aggressive portfolios use it as a steady income layer beneath their speculative bets. Increase your allocation when ETH remains range-bound and Base trading activity is strong; trim exposure when volatility spikes or incentive programs decline.
Planned Vault Additions: This tier will expand with additional balanced LP strategies:
All vault additions require:
Governance can expand this tier to additional LP pairs as proposals pass security review and community vote. The AI research tools help evaluate new opportunities, focusing on liquidity depth, audit history, and incentive sustainability.
Propose new LP strategies using the Vault Addition template. Use Research Chat (see Research Features section) to analyze protocols and gather data for your proposal.
To propose new vaults or track governance progress, check the Strategy Catalog and the Governance Overview section in the Technology documentation.
What happens if ETH crashes?
The position will fall in value, but slightly less than holding pure ETH because the pool automatically shifts toward USDC. Fees earned along the way help offset losses. Severe drawdowns are still possible, so size your position accordingly.
Can I provide only USDC?
No. AMM pools require both assets. If you want stablecoin-only exposure, the Extremely Safe tier is a better fit.
How often are rewards compounded?
The vault harvests and compounds rewards regularly—roughly once per day—balancing reinvestment frequency with gas efficiency. You do not need to take any manual action.
What if AERO incentives decline?
APY would fall, but trading fees continue regardless of incentives. Metalos monitors reward programs closely and can recommend migrating to alternative strategies through governance if economics deteriorate.
Ask the AI chat agent about what portion of your portfolio should be in the Not Very Risky tier given your risk tolerance.