SAM Onboarding Guide

Step-by-step onboarding for validators joining the Marinade Stake Auction Marketplace.

TL;DR: Install the validator bonds CLI, create and fund a bond, configure a bid, and verify on-chain. Read all penalty pages before bidding — "I didn't know" is not grounds for refund.

Overview

Any active validator can participate in the Stake Auction Marketplace. The full onboarding flow is: install the CLI, create a bond, fund it, configure the bid, simulate, and wait for the next auction. This page walks through each step.

Read this page in full before installing the CLI or funding a bond. Participating in SAM has financial obligations and penalty mechanics that are easy to miss when skipping ahead. At minimum, read the Bid Reduction Penalty, Activating Stake Fee, Eligibility Criteria, maxStakeWanted Parameter and Bond Risk Reduction Mechanism pages before configuring a bid. "I didn't know about the penalty" is not grounds for refund or removal of charges from a validator's bond.

Before Starting

A short list of things worth knowing before configuring anything.

• Set maxStakeWanted: When this is left unset, a validator may receive significantly more stake than expected as Marinade's TVL grows. See maxStakeWanted Parameter.

• Plan the bid before funding: Lowering a bid after winning stake triggers the Bid Reduction Penalty. The clean way to scale down is to withdraw the bond, not lower the bid

• Confirm eligibility: Uptime, commission, and supported node version requirements all apply. See Eligibility Criteria.

• External stake qualifies for matching: Validators bringing external stake may have 10% to 30% matched by Marinade with no bond required on the matched portion. See Stake Matching.

Step 1: Install the Validator Bonds CLI

The CLI is the entry point for every action below: creating, funding, configuring, and managing the bond.

npm i -g @marinade.finance/validator-bonds-cli

Verify the version:

validator-bonds --version

Full installation and command reference: validator-bonds-cli readme.

Step 2: Create a Bond

The bond is an on-chain account linked to the validator's vote account. It serves as collateral for Protected Staking Rewards and is required to participate in SAM.

validator-bonds -um init-bond \
  --vote-account <vote-account-address> \
  --validator-identity ./validator-identity.json

This is the permissioned setup, where the validator identity signs the transaction. A permissionless setup is also supported. See the bond creation guide for both flows.

Step 3: Fund the Bond

The bond must hold enough SOL to cover one epoch of downtime, one epoch of bids at the maximum stake target, and any settlement obligations.

validator-bonds -um fund-bond-sol <bond-or-vote-account-address> \
  --from <funding-keypair> \
  --amount <sol-amount>

A few rules of thumb:

• Eligibility minimum: 1 SOL per 10,000 SOL of stake covers one epoch of downtime. Below this threshold, the validator is not eligible to receive stake.

• Comfortable starting point: 1 SOL per 2,000 SOL of target stake gives headroom for bids and settlements alongside downtime coverage.

SOL deposited in the bond stays delegated to the validator. It earns rewards for the validator and counts toward the SFDP (Solana Foundation Delegation Program) self-stake requirement.

Step 4: Configure the Bid

Use a static bid (CPMPE, cost per 1,000 SOL of delegated stake per epoch) in lamports, a dynamic commission bid in basis points, or both. See configure-bond for all options.

validator-bonds -um configure-bond <bond-or-vote-account-address> \
  --authority <bond-authority-keypair> \
  --cpmpe <lamports-per-1000-sol-per-epoch> \
  --max-stake-wanted <max-sol-amount>

To see what other validators are bidding and what the current effective bid looks like, check the ds-sam-pipeline auctions folder. Each epoch folder contains the inputs and outputs of that auction.

Step 5: Simulate the Position

Before committing to a bid, run a simulation on the PSR (Protected Staking Rewards) dashboard to see how the bid would perform in the current auction. The simulation shows projected stake at different bid levels, helping with bond sizing and picking a competitive bid.

Step 6: Verify the Setup

Confirm the bond and bid are visible on-chain before the next auction runs.

validator-bonds -um show-bond <bond-or-vote-account-address>

A validator's auction position can also be verified on the Validator Dashboard once the next epoch begins.

The CLI is the source of truth. show-bond reads on-chain data and reflects the bond's current state immediately after any transaction.

The PSR dashboard and other web dashboards refresh every few hours and are intended for reference, not real-time verification. After funding or configuring a bond, give the dashboard time to catch up before assuming something is wrong. Always cross-check with the CLI first.

What Happens Next

Auctions run every epoch (approximately 2 days). Once the bond is funded and the bid is configured, the validator enters the next auction cycle automatically. If the bid is competitive enough to win stake, delegation activates over the following epochs.

To stay informed about bond status, set up Validator Bond Notifications for alerts on bond underfunding, settlements, and other events.

Next Steps

• Eligibility Criteria: Confirm all requirements are met and learn how to exit SAM cleanly. See Eligibility Criteria.

• Bonds Settlements: Understand how bids are charged each epoch. See Bonds Settlements.

• Activating Stake Fee: Understand the one-time fee charged when new stake activates. See Activating Stake Fee.

• Bid Reduction Penalty: Read this before considering any bid changes. See Bid Reduction Penalty.

• Bond Risk Reduction Mechanism: Learn what happens when a bond becomes underfunded relative to its stake allocation. See Bond Risk Reduction Mechanism.