Candlestick Data Guide - Follow the Smart Money in Crypto

Make Smart Money work for you via Candlestick metrics.

Candlestick Smart Money 101

We create and update algorithms to generate lists of 😎Smart Money and categorize them. Identifying types of 😎Smart Money addresses and grouping them is very important as different Smart Money could perform very differently in and out of their territories, even though they are generally very smart. For example, a Smart NFT collector who’ve made millions of profit from BAYC might perform pretty badly in trading fungible tokens.

That’s why when generating 😎Smart Money, Candlestick categorizes them into lists such as Smart Dex Trader, DeFi OG, Smart Meme Pro, etc. When you turned on “😎Smart Money Mode”, you could switch between different lists based on your investment strategy.

In the following section, you will be able to understand different types of 😎Smart Money and the meaning of different labels associated with 😎Smart Money.

Smart Money Is?

Candlestick uses a number of algorithms to generate different types of 😎Smart Money addresses on a daily/monthly basis depending on the type of lists. Therefore we don’t have a specific number of smart money addresses we have on most of the lists – they are algo-generated, dynamically.

1. Smart DEX Trader (V2)

😎Smart DEX Trader is a dynamic, algo-generated list of high-performing addresses based on large numbers of criteria in the last 12 months. This list will be updated monthly – to ensure that it reflects the profitability of an address in the current market condition.

The basic criteria at a top level include the following:

Realized Gain >= $100K.
Profit Rate >= 20% (Profit Rate = Profit/Cost)
Win Rate* >=60%.
Win Count* >= 3 Tokens. This set a minimum requirement of 3 profitable tokens traded.
Activity Requirements – latest trade within 1 month.

12+ enhanced filters including Bot Filter, Pool Creator Filter etc. You could refer to this post for detail.

😎Smart Dex Trader Badges

There are 5 wallet tags representing 5 different types of 😎Smart Dex Trader. Each tag is backed by its respective criteria in addition to the basic criteria mentioned above.

High Win Rate:

At least 80% win rate

2X Plus：

100%+ realized profit (2X or higher)

$1M Plus

$1M+ total profit (realized + unrealized)

Three 50X

Traded at least 3 coins with 50X return (Total Profits/Cost >=50)

Ten 10X

Traded at least 10 coins with 10X return (Total Profits/Cost >=10)

Important Notes on the Data Layer

*“Qualified Token” in our algorithm:

Not every token that a trader (address) has traded on DEX will be included in our calculation. In a case where a larger portion of a specific token acquired was not through direct purchase via DEX or withdrawn from CEX (eg. claimed from farming, transferred from another address, etc.) such a token won’t be treated as a “qualified token” in our algorithm. For example, an address brought 100 ABC with 1 ETH on DEX and received 200 ABC from another EOA. When he sold 300 ABC for 2 ETH, he would have 1 ETH as a realized gain for ABC token but the ABC token would be marked as “not qualified” because the cost of 200 ABC he received can not be justified.

2. Inclusion of CEX Deposit & Withdrawal. We’ve added “Deposit to CEX” (Sell) and “Withdraw from CEX” (Buy) into the PnL calculation to truly reflect the actual gain of a token in the latest V2 Smart Money Algorithm.

3. Token Buy/Sell Tax or Fee. We’ve added adjustments to remove the impacts of token buy/sell tax to the balance of holding, which has a direct effect on the unrealized gain.

2. Crypto VCs & Founders

158 Crypto VCs & Founders, including A16Z, Paradigm & Justin Sun, Vitalik, etc.

3. Smart Meme Pro (V2)

😎Smart Meme Pro is a dynamic, algo-generated list of high-performing addresses specialized in entering newly launched tokens (mostly meme coins) early in the last 6 months. This list will be updated monthly – to ensure that it reflects the profitability of an address in the current market condition.

The basic criteria at a top level include the following:

Realized Gain >= $50K.
Profit Rate >= 20% (Profit Rate = Profit/Cost).
Aped-in % Requirement. We consider an address “aped in” when entering a newly created token within the first day.
Win Rate* >=60%.
Win Count* >= 2 Tokens. This set a minimum requirement of 2 profitable tokens traded.
Activity Requirements – latest trade within 1 month.

12+ enhanced filters including Bot Filter, Pool Creator Filter etc. You could refer to this post for detail.

4. Profit Top 200 Dynamic (V2)

😎Profit Top 200 Dynamic is a dynamic, algo-generated list of the top 200 addresses by profit rate from newly launched tokens in the last 2 weeks. The list essentially contains the most profitable Smart Money, in terms of the profit rate, from trading newly launched tokens (mostly meme-coin but could also be any token deployed) during a 2-week time frame. This list will be updated daily – to ensure that it reflects the profitability of an address in the current market condition.

In this list, the only thing matter is the profit rate (realized profit/cost). However, due to the volatility of newly launched tokens and the size of trades, there are some rules we applied when we designed the algorithm:

Only realized gains are treated as profit in our calculation. A lot of time different platform uses the current price of a token * balance of such token in someone’s address for the value of the holdings. But in many cases, it could be very misleading as the token might only have $10,000 liquidity access to the market, but there are addresses “holding $1,000,000 or more” – it is just gain on paper, and obviously, they can’t exit at such value.
There is a minimum of $5,000 realized gain for an address to get on the list. This is to avoid someone on the list spending 0.1 USDT for a $200 realized gain – ~2,000% profit in such a case.
The trader has to actually buy the token either from a DEX or from a CEX to make the token “qualified” for our analysis. There are so many direct or indirect airdrops from the deployer of a token or something like that. We apply this rule to try to exclude addresses that are part of the deployer’s group.

12+ enhanced filters including Bot Filter, Pool Creator Filter etc. You could refer to this post for detail.

5. Defi OG

390 labeled “Defi OG” – Top profitable address from farming the iconic DeFi protocols including $COMP, $YFI, $YAM, $CRV and $SUSHI, etc. These addresses had accumulated large amounts of profits during the DeFi Summer and usually perform activities including staking, providing liquidity & lending etc.

Why Track Smart Money?

Everybody can participate in crypto investment. But most individual traders cannot timely smell value opportunities due to a lack of analyst skills or inaccurate information received.

In comparison, Smart Money investors have the following advantages:

1. They can move the market

Smart Money controls a much larger scale of capital than retail investors. Thus, these investors’ buying or selling movements are significant cash flows that could influence markets.

2. They are professionals

Professionals are those traders that have years of crypto trading experience, complete skillsets of market analytics, or even a well-tested trading model to capture the investment timing.

3. They are well informed

Smart Money are investors with better and broader information sources that are generally inaccessible to ordinary people. Thus, they have a fuller understanding of the market.

Candlestick Smart Money Metrics

You can follow the smart money movement by checking 20+ smart money metrics on Candlestick.

By tracking smart money addresses and visualizing their activities, you will have a much better chance of success when investing in a particular cryptocurrency.

Smart Money