Learn·Markets
How a subnet's α price is set
It is a ratio between two chain values, not an order book — which is why the price can move with no trade at all.
The price is a ratio
Each subnet holds two balances on chain: τ in the pool (SubnetTAO) and α in the pool (SubnetAlphaIn). The α price in τ is simply the first divided by the second.
There is no order book, no bid and no ask. Buying α puts τ into the pool and takes α out, which raises the ratio. Selling does the reverse.
Why the price moves when nobody trades
The chain injects emission into the pool every block. That changes both balances without anyone pressing a button, so the ratio moves on its own.
This is why Taosis separates the two causes rather than reporting one number. Because the price IS the ratio, the move decomposes exactly: ln(P₁/P₀) = ln(τ₁/τ₀) − ln(α₁/α₀). We do the arithmetic in log space precisely because log parts add exactly, where percentages do not.
What slippage really is here
Since the price comes out of the pool, a large order moves it while it executes. That is slippage, and it is a property of pool depth, not of a spread.
A deeper pool absorbs the same order with less movement. That is the only sense in which pool depth is comparable across subnets — it is not a quality score.
Read next
Reading price attribution
Trading versus emission, decomposed exactly rather than fitted — with the leftover always published.
Tempo and emission
Emission is the chain paying for work on a fixed schedule — the metronome behind every subnet number.
What Taosis can and cannot know
The one page to read first: why a blank is never a zero, and why some questions are refused outright.