Why the SuperShark Cycle buys top layer 1s first: they pay you while you wait
Buying the bottom is the easy part. The hard part is the years that come after it, when the price goes nowhere and every week someone tells you crypto is dead. The SuperShark course leans towards the top layer 1s — Ethereum, Solana, BNB, plus Bitcoin as the benchmark — because they make that wait survivable: you can stake them for income, and you can unstake and sell them when life needs the money.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The wait is the real test. From the first lot in the zone to the next cycle high took 3.2 years for ETH, 2.9 for SOL and 3.3 for BTC and BNB in 2022–2025.
- Staking turns waiting into income. At today’s DefiLlama rates (ETH 2.17%, SOL 4.91%, BNB 1.02%), the coins bought would have grown by 7.1%, 14.9% and 3.4%.
- Exit matters as much as yield. BNB unbonds in 7 days; ETH exits wait in a queue — and before 12 April 2023 staked ETH could not be withdrawn at all.
- That is why the zone starts earlier. Top layer 1s are bought from −70%; coins that cannot pay you while you wait must fall to −85% first.
The sharks buy after the crowd has given up — and then they take their time. Nobody rings a bell at the bottom. That gap between buying and selling is where most people break the plan, so the course chooses coins that make the gap easier to sit through.
1How long do you actually wait after buying the bottom?
About three years. We measured it on Binance weekly candles: the week each coin first touched −70% from its 2021 high (the first lot of the Tier 1 zone), and the week of its next cycle high.
Look at that box for a moment. If you bought Solana there, you held through the FTX collapse, a low of $8.00, and 42 of the 52 weeks of 2023 closing below $30. The plan was right — the next high was $295.83 — but only for people who were still holding. What keeps people holding is not courage. It is a plan that pays them something every month and lets them get out if they truly must.
2How much does staking pay while you wait?
Staking means locking coins to help secure the chain; the chain pays you new coins for it. We took each coin’s 2022 lots (10 lots of $1,000 across its −70% → −85% zone), assumed every coin was staked from the first buy week to the next high, and applied today’s liquid-staking rate from DefiLlama (4 Oct 2026).
| Coin | Lots filled | Coins bought | Years waited | Staking rate today | Extra coins | Worth at next high | Multiple without → with staking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ETH | 8 of 10 | 6.978 | 3.2 | 2.17% | +0.496 (+7.1%) | $2,460 | 4.32× → 4.63× |
| SOL | 10 of 10 | 179.43 | 2.9 | 4.91% | +26.70 (+14.9%) | $7,898 | 5.31× → 6.10× |
| BNB | 3 of 10 | 15.341 | 3.3 | 1.02% | +0.528 (+3.4%) | $726 | 7.03× → 7.27× |
| BTC | 5 of 10 | 0.2739 | 3.3 | — | 0 (no native staking) | — | 6.91× → 6.91× |
Staking does not make the trade. The zone does — 4× to 7× came from buying at −70% to −85%. What staking does is quieter: on Solana it turned a 5.3× into a 6.1× without one extra dollar, and on every coin it gave you a small, visible reward for doing the hardest thing in investing, which is nothing. The table is slightly generous (later lots were staked for less time), but the order of size is right.
3Why does “unstake easily” matter as much as the yield?
Because the course is a money plan, not a lock-up. If your family needs money in year two, you must be able to turn coins back into cash in days — not months, and not at a discount. That is why the course criterion is not just “staking” but staking you can enter and leave easily.
BNB: “undelegated stakes are subject to a 7-day unbonding period” (BNB Chain docs). SOL: deactivation completes over a few epochs (Solana docs). ETH today: exits wait in a queue whose length depends on how many others are leaving (ethereum.org).
You can stake and still sell inside your plan.
Native ETH staking had no withdrawals at all until the Shanghai/Capella upgrade on 12 April 2023. Anyone who staked in the June 2022 zone could not unstake for about ten months.
Same coin, same yield — but it failed the “leave easily” test at the time.
The lesson students take from this: check the exit before the yield. A high rate you cannot leave is not income — it is a lock-up you agreed to without noticing.
4Why are top layer 1s bought from −70%, while other coins wait for −85%?
Two reasons, and both are about the wait. First, top layer 1s have historically fallen less — in 2021–2022 BTC fell 77.6%, ETH 81.9% and BNB 73.5% (see the crash lessons). A zone that starts at −85% would often never be reached. Second, if you buy a little too early, staking keeps paying you while the price finishes falling. A coin that pays nothing gives you no such cushion, so the course makes it fall further first.
BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB: buy from −70% → −85%. Stake while you wait, unstake to spend. SUI, newer: −75% → −95%.
AVAX, NEAR, APT: only −85% → −95%. Real chains, but not the leaders — they can fall much further first.
LINK, AAVE, HYPE, UNI…: only −85% → −97%. Often listed at a high valuation and not held for staking, so they must fall deepest.
5So why is Bitcoin in tier 1 if you cannot stake it?
Because the other half of the reason — “you can always sell it for money you need” — is strongest of all for Bitcoin. It is the benchmark every altcoin is measured against, it fell the least of the four in 2022, and it is the last coin people stop buying. In the table above Bitcoin earns no staking at all and still returned 6.9× on its lots. The course keeps it in tier 1 for safety and liquidity, not for income; the income comes from the layer 1s next to it.
Honest limit: some platforms offer “BTC yield”. That is lending or wrapping, not native staking — it adds a counterparty that can fail. The course does not count it.
6How does the app check staking before you buy?
Every layer 1 in the Portfolio carries “Staking / yield” as a KEY criterion. The rule printed under the list is blunt: “A fail on TVL, DEX volume or staking means don’t invest.”
When we check a layer 1 with students, we read that row before the price. Can we stake it? Can we leave in days? Only then does the drawdown matter.
Common mistakes with staking in the SuperShark Cycle
- Chasing the highest rate.A 20% yield on a small coin does not survive a −95% crash. The course stakes only the leaders it would hold anyway.
- Ignoring the exit.Check the unbonding time first. In 2022 native ETH staking had no exit at all.
- Staking on a platform you do not trust.Liquid-staking tokens and exchange staking add a counterparty. Spread it, or use native staking.
- Counting staking as profit and spending it early.Let the extra coins sit; they are sold with the rest by your plan.
- Buying a non-L1 leader at −70% “because it pays too”.Its zone is still −85% → −97%. Yield does not change the depth rule.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the SuperShark Cycle prefer top layer 1s?
Because the wait after the bottom is long — about three years from the first buy to the next high in 2022–2025 — and top layer 1s can be staked for income during it, unstaked in days, and sold any time. That makes the plan easier to keep.
How much extra did staking add in the last cycle?
At today’s DefiLlama rates and staking from the first buy week, about 7.1% more ETH, 14.9% more SOL and 3.4% more BNB by the next cycle high. On Solana that lifted the result from 5.3× to 6.1×.
Is staking safe?
Native staking on a large chain is the safest form, but it has lock-up and validator risks; liquid staking and exchange staking add a company or protocol that can fail. Check the unbonding time and who holds your coins.
Does staking change where I buy?
No. It is one reason the top layer 1 zone starts at −70%, but you still buy only inside your coin’s zone, in equal lots, and sell by your plan.
Every coin page in the Portfolio shows its zone, its lots and the staking criterion side by side.
Related reading: 7 lessons from the last crash · the maths of cycle investing · drawdown · Shark Notes.
Education, not financial advice. Staking rates change, staking has its own risks, and past cycles do not guarantee future results.