Methodology & Evaluation Model
How DefiTier objectively scores perpetual DEXes, calculates tier rankings (S/A/B/C/D), and safeguards farmer capital. The farm score is a weighted sum of six public inputs. No venue can pay to move it, and every input is visible on the venue's own page. The rule that moves the list most: any program more than 80% through its window caps at Tier B, because arriving at the end of a season is not farming.
No DEX or protocol can pay to alter its score, boost its tier, or influence editorial parameters.
Every score input is derived from public smart contract data, verified tokenomics, and public volume feeds.
Penalizes venues with predatory fees or diluted late-stage farming seasons to prevent capital loss.
The formula, in full
Reward size & density
Estimated reward pool (est. FDV × community allocation) divided by daily venue volume, log-scaled between $1k and $500k of pool per $1M of daily volume, then blended 70/30 with the absolute size of the pool. Density alone would rank a venue with a $5M pool above Polymarket, which is nonsense — a great ratio on a tiny pool still pays very little. Scaled down when a program is not primarily volume-weighted, and again when FDV or allocation is our estimate rather than a published figure.
Entry window
How much of the published program is still ahead of you. A program that ends in six weeks has already allocated most of its point supply, so joining now buys a slice of what is left — that is a late entry, not a farm, and the score says so. Venues that have not started a program yet score highest here because there are no existing point holders to dilute you, and venues whose seasons reset get a floor because a fresh season resets the competition.
Airdrop credibility
Starts from how committed the venue is — confirmed token and date, official intent with a published allocation, a running program with no numbers, or nothing but third-party speculation — then scaled by stage, so a live points program outranks a retroactive hope.
Room to farm
Penalises absolute size (log-scaled from $5M to $15B of daily volume), venue maturity, and turnover above 4x open interest per day, which is where volume stops being positioning and starts being churn. Venues under $3M a day take a further penalty: cheap to dominate, but they may never pay anything.
Fee efficiency
Taker fee in basis points, scaled linearly across the 1-10 bps band where real perp fees sit, and shown on each venue page as the dollar cost of a $100k round trip. Fees are the price of points, and the funding screener exists because funding usually moves that cost more than the fee schedule does.
Capital momentum
Seven-day open-interest change dominates, with a small weight on 24h volume change. Rising open interest means capital is arriving and staying; a volume spike with flat open interest means farmers are churning and diluting the pool you are farming.
Tier Definitions & Expected Yields
Tier S
Early programs with the largest pool per dollar of volume. Farm these first.
Tier A
Strong programs with credible commitments and room left to farm.
Tier B
Solid but either crowded, late, or vaguer about allocation.
Tier C
Speculative or well past the halfway point of the program.
Tier D
Nothing committed, thin numbers, or a program that is nearly over.
Post-TGE
Token launched or no program at all. Kept as precedent and liquidity reference.
Tier boundaries and the caps
- Thin or missing OI caps at Tier B.
No indexed open interest, or OI under about $2M, or no live volume: score is capped below A (Tier B at best), even when volume aggregators look busy.
- Late programs cap at Tier B.
Anything more than 80% through its farming window cannot rank higher, however good its volume looks — the point supply is already spoken for and you would be buying the last slice.
- Unverifiable venues cap lower.
No volume and no OI caps at Tier C. Rumored retroactive programs also cannot sit above B. A venue nobody indexes may be a great farm, but it should not outrank one whose numbers you can audit on public open-interest feeds.
- Launched tokens are not graded at all.
Venues whose token already exists, and venues with no program to speak of, carry a TGE badge and sit below the ranked field. There is no airdrop left to farm, so letting them occupy a tier would be misleading.
Ready to simulate your returns?
Use our interactive multi-mode calculator to model real airdrop payouts, volume requirements, and delta-neutral funding carry.