Staking Rewards
What are staking rewards and what can you expect to earn
What are Staking Rewards
Staking rewards is ADA distributed back to the community through their participation in operating the network. By staking / delegating your ADA to a pool you earn ADA if the pool mints a block.
The current average ROA (Return on ADA) is approx. 5% per year. So essentially if you were to stake 1000 ADA, you can expect ~50 ADA will be earned through rewards in a year. The ROA is continually changing based on the operations of the network, so while 5% is the estimated amount at this point in time, that may change in the future.

Estimated Staking Rewards
5%
ROA (Return on ADA)
Per Year
~50 ADA
Earned in a Year
With 1,000 ADA Staked

Timeline
When do you get rewarded for participating in the staking process?

STAKE ADA
WAIT 0 - 5 DAYS
To start the staking process, you will delegate the ADA in your wallet to a pool. Since this will be during an epoch currently in process, you'll need to wait until the next epoch starts for your ADA tokens to become registered in the pool.
Stake Snapshot
EPOCH 1
DAYS 1 - 5 | DURATION: 5 DAYS
This is when your ADA becomes registered into the pool and will be come active in the next epoch. A record called a "Stake Snapshot" is taken at the beginning of each epoch to record the amount of ADA staked in the pool. This is used to determine the chances a pool has to mint a block.
Stake Snapshot
Earning Epoch 2 Rewards
EPOCH 2
DAYS 6 - 10 | DURATION: 5 DAYS
At this point, your staked ADA becomes active in the pool and begins earning rewards. The rewards earned during this epoch will be paid out after two more epochs, so just a bit of waiting.
Stake Snapshot
Earning Epoch 3 Rewards
Calculating Epoch 2 Rewards
EPOCH 3
DAYS 11 - 15 | DURATION: 5 DAYS
Rewards earned in the previous epoch are now being calculated, so that the rewards can be distributed to delegators in the next epoch. You'll be earning more rewards in this epoch though, so while the protocol crunches the numbers, you'll be earning rewards.
Stake Snapshot
Earning Epoch 4 Rewards
Calculating Epoch 3 Rewards
Paid
Epoch 2 Rewards
EPOCH 4
DAYS 16 - 20 | DURATION: 5 DAYS
Reward Day! The rewards from Epoch 2 are now distributed to the delegators and will go directly to your wallet. From this point you will be earning rewards every 5 days or every epoch.