Learn·Markets
What happens on chain when you buy subnet α
Buying α is a stake call against the subnet's pool: τ goes in, α comes out, and it is staked to a validator from the first block.
Published 2026-09-17 · updated 2026-09-28
Buying and staking are the same call
There is no way to buy α and hold it loose. The call is addStake: a validator hotkey, a subnet and an amount of τ. The chain sends the τ into that subnet's pool, takes α out, and records it as staked to that hotkey under your coldkey.
Selling is the mirror: removeStake names the hotkey and an amount of α; the α returns to the pool and τ comes out to your free balance. There is no counterparty on either side — the pool is the counterparty.
What the pool hands back
The pool is constant-product: τ in pool × α in pool is held fixed across a trade. The swap fee comes off your τ first, the rest joins the τ reserve, and you receive whatever α keeps the product constant: α out = α in pool − (τ in pool × α in pool) ÷ (τ in pool + τ sent × (1 − swap fee)).
Your τ raises one reserve and lowers the other, so the price after your buy is above the price before it, and your average fill sits between the two. The larger the order against the pool, the wider that gap.
The validator you name is not a formality
α earns nothing by existing. It can earn a share of a validator's dividends, but only if the hotkey you staked it to is being paid on that subnet — as a validator with a permit there, or as a parent hotkey paid through its child keys. Name one that pays nothing and the α simply sits there.
It is not permanent: moving α to another validator on the same subnet is a stake move, not a sale.
Where Taosis fits
Taosis is read-only: it never builds or signs this call — a buy is made in your own wallet or on a staking platform. What it gives you is the inputs to check first: each subnet page prints the pool's reserves and its swap fee — the figures this formula runs on — and the APR (simple) and APY (compounded) of its default validator, annualised from the latest epoch the chain paid. How much τ moves the price 2% either way is on the subnet's guide page, and the screener's depth columns give it at 2% and 5% for every subnet.
Wherever you sign, prefer the limit variant with a tight tolerance, so the chain refuses or partially fills rather than executing far from the quote. The fill then appears in your wallet's history on the Explorer: τ paid, α received, and the price you actually got.
Read next
How the α price works
It is a ratio between two chain values, not an order book — which is why the price can move with no trade at all.
Pool depth and slippage
Depth is the τ that moves a pool's price a given distance; a quote is the same curve read from the trader's side, with the fee on a different leg for buys and sells.
Staking safely
Taosis never signs or sends anything: staking happens in your own wallet or on a staking platform. What to check there before you approve.