On March 4th, 2023, I announced an experiment of delegation to Ecency to prove that it’s probably the most profitable (in terms of APY) delegations feasible for a newcomer who posts frequently.

Here are the results of this week’s delegation with Ecency, and following this, a legend of the columns used, as well as a bit of analysis of the week:

Legend

Day: well, this one’s pretty self-explanatory. It starts the day after I delegated to Ecency so that there’s at least 24 hours permitted for rewards to kick in. It is a value used directly in the APY calculation.
Hive Delegated to Ecency: this is how much total Hive Power (HP) I have delegated to Ecency on the provided day. It is a value used indirectly in the APY calculation.
Average Hive Delegation to Date: this is the average of my delegated Hive Power (HP) to Ecency, current to the provided day. This gives an accurate value of how much delegation has been given over time, inclusive of all rewards (from Ecency Boosts and from other sources, including posts and comments). Since this value shows contributes directly to the rewards I get from Ecency, it is the most accurate value to use in calculating APY. Hence, it is a value used directly in the APY calculation.
Hive Reward: this is how much I have earned in rewards in HP from Ecency delegations on the provided day.
Total Hive Reward: this is how much I have in rewards in HP from Ecency delegations in total, up to the provided day. It is a value used directly in the APY calculation.
Hive Earned From Boosts: this is how much I have earned in rewards in HP due to Ecency boosts on the provided day, including the votes that come as a result of following Ecency’s curation trail (this value is approximate). It’s difficult to calculate earnings from promotions, and will not be included in this calculation.
Total Hive Earned From Boosts: this is how much I have earned in rewards in HP due to Ecency boosts in total, up to the provided day, including the votes that come as a result of following Ecency’s curation trail (this value is approximate). It is a value used directly in the APY calculation.
Hive Earned From Posts: this is how much I have earned in rewards in HP from posting and is inclusive of boosts and promotions, on the provided day. While I do reinvest this into Ecency delegations, it is NOT included in my APY calculation, as it is not an earning directly due to the delegation.
Total Hive Earned from Posts: this is how much I have earned in rewards in HP from posting and is inclusive of boosts and promotions, in total, up to the provided day. While I do reinvest this into Ecency delegations, it is NOT included in my APY calculation, as it is not an earning directly due to the delegation.
Other Hive Earned: this is how much I have earned in rewards in HP from other sources (i.e. comments, swing trades, etc.) on the provided day. While I do reinvest this into Ecency delegations, it is NOT included in my APY calculation, as it is not an earning directly due to the delegation. I have also come to realize that this is the most inaccurate and inconsistent column I have – please regard it only as a very, very rough estimate.
Hive Reinvested into Ecency Delegation: this is how much Hive I have reinvested into Ecency delegations on the provided day, and is all-inclusive (since I reinvest earnings from posts, comments, etc.). Its only relevance to the APY calculation is that it brings up my total amount delegated to Ecency. That particular aspect is included in the “Hive Delegated to Ecency” column.
Hive Earned APY To Date: this is the calculated APY based on the “Average Hive Delegation to Date,” “Total Hive reward,” and “Total Hive Earned From Boosts.” This provides a fair calculation of earning which are directly due to Ecency’s rewards (in Hive and boosts), while taking into account the growing delegation and changes in rewards over time. The APY is recorded on a daily basis and will paint a more accurate picture with more time. Some initial values (after the rewards from the initial boosts come in) may be outrageously high due to boosts from preexisting Ecency points (I had >3500, which is equivalent to 23 boosts, or <23 boosts + more promotions); these are accurate values but skewed due to the small time frame. They will become more accurate and reflective of reality over time. There is also a 7 day delay in some earnings, which may further skew the APY. While reinvestments from non-Ecency sources (i.e. posts, comments, trading, etc.) may cause the APY to appear larger, using the “Average Hive Delegation to Date” as a divisor compensates for this effect, thus giving a more accurate APY that’s a result of only Ecency delegation. It is the most fair divisor to use in this calculation because it accounts for changes in delegation over time, is a direct contributor to subsequent delegation rewards, and accounts for reinvested Hive Power only after it has been delegated to Ecency.
Total Ecency Points: this is the total amount of Ecency points that I have available on the provided day. Note that I begin with >3300 points, which is equivalent to 23 boosts, or <23 boosts + more promotions. None of these are used in calculations, but rather as a tally so that conversions can be better understood.
Ecency Points Earned From Delegation: this is the amount of Ecency points that I earned on the provided day. None of these are used in calculations, but rather as a tally so that conversions can be better understood.
Total Ecency Points Earned From Delegation: this is the amount of Ecency points that I earned in total, up to the provided day. None of these are used in calculations, but rather as a tally so that conversions can be better understood.
Daily Ecency Points Earned (All Sources): this is the amount of Ecency points that I earned through other activities (commenting, voting, posting, etc.) on the provided day. None of these are used in calculations, but rather as a tally so that conversions can be better understood.
Ecency Points Spent on Boosts / Promotions: this is the amount of Ecency points that I spent on boosts and promotions on the provided day. None of these are used in calculations, but rather as a tally so that conversions can be better understood. Looking 7 days ahead to the HP earned in boosts will reveal how much the points translate into HP.
HBD Spent to Buy Ecency Points: this is how much HBD I spent to buy Ecency points. At market value, 1000 Ecency Points = 2 HBD.

Graphical Representation

Here are some graphs to help visually represent the progress being made in this experiment. They are adapting data directly from the spreadsheet shown above, using the same legend.

In the first graph, our Y axes consist of: Hive and APY %; these are divided into data sets consisting of Hive Delegated to Ecency (orange), Average Hive Delegation to Date (yellow), and Hive Earned APY to Date (blue, and this is a percentage). The X axis is the Day, so you can follow the daily trend.

In the second graph, our Y axis consists of APY %, represented by Hive Earned APY to Date. The X axis consists of Average Hive Delegation to Date. This one’s a little bit tricky, so I’ll explain it to clear things up: recall that during the first week, I accidentally removed delegation from Ecency. This made the Average Hive Delegation to Date decrease (move to the left on the X axis); subsequently, I increased the delegation, causing it to increase, thus moving to the right on the X axis. Thus, in terms of time, the experiment begins at the bottom, where the Average Delegation to Hive is just about 100% and the APY is ~10%. Following the line to the left, and then subsequently to the right gives the proper timeline.

From this point forward, unless an accidental undelegation occurs, you can continue reading this graph from left to right, as the delegation will be increasing rather than decreasing! Please let me know in the comments whether this is at all unclear and I’ll explain further.

This Week’s Earning Analysis

Last week, I bet on an APY to date of ~90%. So how accurate was my guess? The APY to date as of the end of this week is 89.05%. I was much closer this time around, yet didn’t quite hit that 90% mark. The APY seems to be settling in already. Now, let’s see what happened over the course of this week:

Day 57 I took a very big step in terms of this experiment: I used some of my HBD savings (which were collected over time via rewards and trading I did between Hive and HBD on our internal exchange) to purchase Ecency Points from someone at an exchange rate of 2 HBD per 1,000 Ecency Points (which is the current market value). Thus, I added a new column to the spreadsheet to indicate this, as it’s a legitimate way of getting these points! Indeed, for those who use Ecency Points, this market value provides a good one for those who actually use Ecency points for Boosts and promotions. A 150 point Boost brings us ~$0.50 (after author rewards are chopped in half), so for those who use them, 1000 Ecency points can bring in about $3.33. As per discussion with @melinda010100, Ecency Points will eventually become scarcer in distribution, so in the future they may further increase in value.

I purchased 1,170 Ecency Points with 2.341 HBD. Additionally, I got stemsocial’s curation for last week’s Experiment post! Woohoo.

Day 58 I spent the usual 250 Ecency Points to Boost my my previous Ecency Delegation Experiment post. I had covered a sudden night shift for a friend (short after completing a day shift), so I didn’t get a chance to post this until morning time. It was a long, tough day (nearly 24 hours), yet I still pushed myself to submit that post. At any rate, this is the reason that you see the 250 points delayed one day later than usual.

Day 60 I Boosted another post for 150 points, and promoted it for 2 weeks (1000 Ecency points). I’ve now run down my Ecency points quite a bit! It’ll be like starting the experiment from scratch. However, I do consider those promotions important, and it’s clear that there’s a place for them in the collection of Ecency points.

Day 61 I purchased some more Ecency points for the same exchange rate as previously (235 for 0.471 HBD). What can I say – it’s certainly a viable strategy for growth.

Day 62 I received my largest single total reward yet (in addition to some decent comment rewards) and used that exact amount to reinvest into the Ecency delegation. It’ll lead to a decent jump in subsequent delegation rewards, but a stepdown in APY for the next week. That’s ok – it’s a marathon, not a 100 meter hurdle!

Day 63 I reinvested my few post earnings into Ecency. The trading through Hive’s internal markets also continues! Placing limit orders certainly helps keep me from losing any amount. I quite literally am able to buy low and sell high by putting in the proper parameters.

Now I’ll challenge myself and everyone else reading this to guess the upcoming week’s APY to date. Keep these major factors in mind: 1) I posted 3 times this week and Boosted all of the posts; 2) this will be a transition from week 9 → week 10 (which directly affects the math). My guess for the next week’s APY to date will once again be ~90%, and for the following week a tiny bit higher (let’s say ~91-92%; will give a updated value guess next week!).

https://images.ecency.com/p/PB8ro82ZpZP35bVGjGoE93K3E4U5KX8KtMBJ2rguR8yy8ipCW8pj1nBBykuAvaDJvZRdL5EuCaqMAdro7XecAyiNqHjNroaX3fksdXgkU2ybgWFp.webp?format=webp&mode=fit

It should be noted that my medicine-themed posts and the Ecency Delegation Experiment posts have @stemsocial as a 5% beneficiary, the Ecency Delegation Experiment Posts will have @leo.voter as a 5% beneficiary (thank you for the freedom of speech!), and all of my posts now have a variable percentage as a beneficiary to @hive-140084 (the FreeCompliments community; these rewards will be used as a reinvestment vehicle and as a reward pool for everyone who posts and comments in the community, except for illegal content, and threads about the community!).

I hope that you’ve found this analysis informative. While it is not financial advice, it may be useful as a methodology of calculating your own returns on various projects on the Hive network.

Here are the prior weeks’ posts for further reference:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8

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