How to Find Top Solana Validators on Orb

The Orb block explorer has dedicated pages for each Solana validator, with key information including vote addresses, total stake, APY, transaction history, and more. This tutorial will explain how to research Solana validators on Orb, pick the best place to stake your SOL, and begin earning SOL staking rewards.

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Find Top Solana Validators

There are two main ways to search for validators on the Orb explorer:

1. Using the search bar
2. From the Network section

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Searching for Validators

To find validators on Orb, simply enter their name or vote identity in the search bar. If there are multiple results for your query, filter by the “Validator” category. Once the result appears, click it to visit their validator page.

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Network Section

The Solana network statistics page has a summary view of the top 10 Solana validators ranked by total stake. From here, you can quickly see the top validators, sort results, and paginate through the list. To visit a validator page, simply click the result.

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Researching Solana Validators

Let’s break down the Solana validator performance metrics you can find on Orb.

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Validator Stake and APY

At the top of the page, you can see the validator’s total active stake, APY, commission rates, and other high-level information. When looking for a place to stake your Solana, make sure you check the commission rates, as they directly impact how much yield you can earn. Just below the summary section, you can find some of the validator’s metadata, including:

• Authorized voter address: the public key permitted to cast votes on behalf of the validator’s stake
• Authorized withdrawer: the public key permitted to withdraw SOL from the stake account
• Identity account: the system account that pays for vote transaction fees submitted to the vote account

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Validator Transaction History

Below the metadata section, you’ll find a table with five different sections. These sections can be navigated using keyboard shortcuts. Simply type the numbers 1-5 to access each tab. In the History section, you’ll find the validator’s most recent transactions. These will mainly be votes cast on recent blocks. Click See more details to inspect the transaction.

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Validator Stake Accounts

Using shortcut “2”, navigate to the Stake Accounts section. In this table, view the account, total delegated stake, activation epoch, account creation date, and account metadata, including withdraw and stake authority.

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Validator Vote History

Typing “3” on your keyboard will take you to the Vote History page. This page shows the most recent slots the validator voted on, along with the confirmation count. For blocks to be “rooted” on Solana, they need to receive 32 confirmations. This will give it the “Finalized” commitment.

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Validator Delinquency Metrics

The Delinquency tab shows the total number of delinquent days and the total delinquent minutes over the last 12 months. You can view this in a heatmap view or as a table. Delinquent stake refers to a validator’s total stake for which it has failed to cast a vote on the network for a specified period, falling behind the cluster.  For example, Binance’s Solana validator has experienced 40 delinquent days and 651 delinquent minutes over the past 12 months.  While a validator is delinquent, the validator’s stake will not earn staking rewards, which negatively impacts the SOL staking APY for delegators. When choosing a place to stake your SOL, it is important to choose a validator that is not delinquent. 

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Validator Info

The Info tab shows a description of the validator along with key details such as:

• Identity: the unique public key identifying the validator
• Stake weight: the total amount of SOL delegated to this validator
• Client version: the software version the validator is currently running
• Commission: The percentage of staking rewards the validator takes as a fee
• Website: a link to the validator operator’s website or informational page
• Location: the geographic location of the validator’s server
• Network: the provider hosting the validator’s server (e.g., Teraswitch, Latitude, etc.)
• ASN: the Autonomous System Number identifying the network provider
• Skip rate: the percentage of scheduled blocks the validator missed producing
• Vote success rate: the percentage of valid votes the validator successfully submitted
• Uptime: the duration the validator has been actively validating and voting
• Last vote: the slot number of the most recent block the validator voted on
• First epoch: the epoch number when the validator first began participating
• Root slot: the most recent slot number the validator has finalized
• Epoch credits: the number of vote credits the validator earned within the current epoch
• Total credits: the cumulative number of vote credits the validator has earned all time

When selecting a place to stake SOL, look for a validator with low skip rates, high uptime, and high vote success rates, as each of these metrics will impact your total SOL yield.

• Uptime: low uptime means more skipped blocks and fewer rewards
• Skip rates: more skipped blocks means less issuance and MEV rewards earned
• Vote success rates: lower success rates mean fewer vote credits and fewer rewards

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Conclusion

The Orb block explorer is a powerful tool for researching the top validators on Solana. Once you’ve finished comparing Solana staking providers and are ready to earn yield on your SOL, start staking! If you want to stake with Helius, visit the Orb staking portal. For more information, check out these additional staking resources:

• Solana Rewards
• SOL Staking Calculator
• Solana (SOL) Staking Guide