How to Vote in dYdX Chain Governance

Voting power on dYdX Chain runs on the exact same mechanic as the trading-fee discount covered elsewhere in this series: only bonded (actively staked) DYDX counts, whether you’re trying to unlock a fee discount or trying to cast a governance vote.

This guide is part of TradeOnDEX’s dYdX how-to series within Perpetual Futures, and assumes you’ve already staked DYDX as covered in the staking guide.

Disclosure: TradeOnDEX may earn a commission from links to dYdX on this page, at no extra cost to you. Full details at the end of this article.

Why you need staked, not just held, DYDX

Only bonded DYDX tokens are counted as votes on a proposal, to get bonded tokens, you need to stake to your preferred validator(s), exactly as covered in the staking guide. This means for you, concretely: simply holding DYDX in your wallet gives you no direct governance vote, the tokens need to be actively delegated to a validator first.

The five types of governance proposals

dYdX Chain governance covers five distinct proposal types: text proposals, parameter change proposals, community spending proposals, software upgrade proposals, and new market proposals. Recent real examples include a vote on distributing Surge Season 9 incentive rewards and a vote on winding down several low-liquidity, inactive markets, governance covers genuinely consequential platform decisions, not just symbolic community sentiment checks.

How to vote, step by step

1. Ensure your DYDX is bonded (staked) to an active validator, unstaked tokens don’t count.
2. Check active proposals through the dYdX governance interface or dYdX.vote.
3. Review the proposal’s actual content and type before voting, a parameter change proposal and a new market proposal have very different real-world implications.
4. Cast your vote (typically Yes, No, or Abstain) before the voting period closes.

How to create a proposal, briefly

Any DYDX holder can create a proposal, but proposal deposits use unstaked DYDX specifically, a different pool of tokens than the staked balance used for voting. After submission, a minimum deposit threshold (the min_deposit parameter) needs to be met within a maximum deposit period before the voting period actually begins; other DYDX holders can contribute to a proposal’s deposit to help it reach that threshold.

Risk: what to understand before participating

Staking DYDX to gain voting power carries the same liquidity trade-off covered in the staking guide. Bonded tokens aren’t transferable, and unstaking triggers an unbonding period during which your tokens are locked but no longer actively voting-eligible either, the same “dead zone” mechanic that affects the fee discount applies here too.

Not every governance proposal is low-stakes. Recent real votes have covered material decisions like winding down active markets, a proposal passing or failing can meaningfully affect the platform you’re trading on, not just abstract protocol parameters.

Proposal deposits and voting draw from different token pools. Contributing to a proposal’s deposit uses unstaked DYDX, while voting requires staked (bonded) DYDX, understand which pool of your tokens is relevant for which specific governance action before assuming one balance serves both purposes.

Governance can change mechanics covered elsewhere in this series. Staking fee discounts, MegaVault’s fee-revenue share, and market-listing parameters are all explicitly governance-adjustable, as flagged throughout this content set, participating in governance is one way to have input into exactly the kinds of parameters this series has repeatedly flagged as subject to change.

Voting power vs. proposal deposits, at a glance

See it for yourself

Check dYdX.vote or the governance section of the dYdX interface for currently active proposals, and review what specific type of change is being proposed before voting, recent proposals have ranged from incentive distribution to market wind-downs, genuinely consequential decisions either way.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to stake my DYDX to vote in governance?

Yes, only bonded (actively staked) DYDX counts as a governance vote; simply holding unstaked tokens in your wallet doesn’t grant voting power.

What kinds of decisions does dYdX governance actually cover?

Five proposal types: text proposals, parameter changes, community spending, software upgrades, and new market proposals, recent real examples include incentive distribution and winding down inactive markets.

Can anyone create a governance proposal?

Yes, any DYDX holder can submit one, though it requires meeting a minimum deposit threshold (contributed using unstaked DYDX) within a set period before the voting period begins.

Does staking for governance voting affect my trading-fee discount too?

Yes, both use the same bonded-token mechanic, so staked DYDX simultaneously counts toward your fee discount and your governance voting power.

Affiliate disclosure

TradeOnDEX may earn a commission if you sign up or stake through a link on this page, at no extra cost to you. dYdX’s own affiliate/referral terms are still being confirmed for this site, so links here are direct and untracked for now. This article is educational and is not financial advice. See our disclaimer for the full risk warning.