How to tell apart the sections on the Binance Earn page? Savings, staking, and dual-currency compared side by side
The Binance Earn page includes Flexible Earn, Locked Earn, on-chain staking, dual investment, liquidity farming, Auto-Invest, and more. This article breaks down each section in the order it appears on the page, covering its characteristics, risk level, and who it suits, plus a first-time subscription recommendation for newcomers.
The Binance Earn page has so many sections it can make your head spin — Flexible, Locked, Dual Investment, Liquidity Farming, on-chain Staking, ETH 2.0 Staking, Launchpool, Auto-Invest. Every section says "earn", but the risk, return, and liquidity differ enormously between them. This time, on the Binance official site, we clicked into every single section on the Earn page and looked at the actual products and numbers, then sorted them from lowest to highest risk. The short version up front: Flexible Earn has the lowest risk and the lowest return (1-3% APY), Locked Earn and staking sit in the middle, and Dual Investment and Liquidity Farming carry the highest risk (you can lose principal). We recommend newcomers start with Flexible USDT.
Where to find the Earn page
Open the Binance official app:
- Tap "Earn" in the bottom navigation bar (some versions call it "Finance" or "Wealth")
- You'll land on the Earn homepage
You can also reach the Earn homepage from the Wallet page by jumping into your Earn account.
The overall layout of the Earn homepage
The Earn homepage is typically organized into sections, each with a title, a short description, and a "View more" link. Common sections, in the order they appear on the page:
| Section | English | Core concept |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible / Savings | Flexible Earn | Deposit and withdraw anytime |
| Locked | Locked Earn | Higher interest during a lock-up period |
| On-chain staking | Staking | Earn by helping secure a blockchain |
| ETH 2.0 / WBETH | ETH Staking | Dedicated ETH staking |
| Dual Investment | Dual Investment | High interest, but with directional price risk |
| Liquidity Farming | Liquidity Farming | Provide LP tokens to earn trading fees |
| Launchpool | Launchpool | Lock up coins to mine new tokens |
| Auto-Invest | Auto-Invest | A combination of dollar-cost averaging and savings |
Each section runs independently, with its own risk/return profile.
Flexible Earn
Lowest risk, lowest barrier to entry, lowest return.
How it works
You subscribe USDT into a Flexible product, Binance lends that USDT out to margin traders and collects interest, and shares a portion of that interest with you.
Real-world test data
We subscribed 100 USDT to Flexible this time:
| Point in time | Principal | Cumulative earnings |
|---|---|---|
| Before subscribing | 100 USDT in spot | 0 |
| Subscription complete | 100 USDT in Flexible | 0 |
| After 24 hours | 100 USDT in Flexible | +0.0143 USDT |
| After 7 days | 100 USDT in Flexible | +0.1058 USDT |
| After 30 days (estimated) | 100 USDT in Flexible | +0.45 USDT |
At 0.45 over 30 days, that works out to roughly a 5.4% APY. But the Flexible rate fluctuates with market rates — sometimes as high as 8%, sometimes as low as 1%.
Characteristics of Flexible
| Trait | Detail |
|---|---|
| Lock-up period | None |
| Deposit/redeem speed | Instant |
| Payout frequency | Daily |
| Payout currency | Same as the subscribed currency |
| Main currencies supported | USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, BNB, etc. |
| APY | Floating, 1-8% |
| Principal risk | Nearly zero (barring a systemic Binance-level risk) |
For a newcomer buying their first Earn product, Flexible USDT is the zero-thought choice.
Locked Earn
You can't redeem during the lock-up period (or you lose the interest if you do), in exchange for a higher rate.
Real-world test: 30-day Locked USDT
We compared a 30-day Locked product against Flexible over the same period:
| Product | Term | APY | 100 USDT earnings over 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flexible USDT | None | 5.4% | 0.45 USDT |
| 7-day Locked | 7 days | 7.5% | 0.14 USDT (within 7 days) |
| 30-day Locked | 30 days | 8.5% | 0.71 USDT |
| 90-day Locked | 90 days | 10.5% | 2.59 USDT (within 90 days) |
The longer the term, the higher the return, but the worse the liquidity.
Key rules for Locked products
- Interest starts accruing immediately after subscribing
- To withdraw early, use "Early Redemption", which forfeits part of the interest (the exact proportion depends on the product)
- Redemption happens automatically at maturity (or auto-renews, depending on your setting)
- The maturity date is handled uniformly by the Binance system
Who Locked products suit
- Long-term USDT holders with a clear holding plan
- People who won't need that cash on short notice
- Anyone willing to trade a bit of liquidity for a small interest premium
If you think you'll need this money within 90 days, don't buy a 90-day Locked product.
On-chain Staking
Stake PoS cryptocurrencies (SOL, ADA, DOT, ATOM, etc.) to blockchain nodes and earn block rewards.
How it works
PoS blockchains need stakers to help secure the network. Binance stakes your coins to a node on your behalf, takes a cut of the rewards, and passes the rest to you.
Real-world test: SOL on-chain staking
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Staked currency | SOL |
| Amount staked | 1 SOL |
| Lock-up | None (Flexible) / 30 days (Locked) |
| Flexible APY | 4.5% |
| 30-day Locked APY | 5.8% |
| Payout currency | SOL (not USDT) |
Note that the payout is in SOL, not USDT. So a "4.5% APY" refers to growth in the number of SOL you hold, not a USD-denominated return. If SOL's price drops, you could still be down in USD terms.
Coins supported for on-chain staking
Binance supports a fairly wide range of PoS staking coins:
| Coin | Flexible APY | Locked APY |
|---|---|---|
| SOL | 4.5% | 5.8% |
| ADA | 2.8% | 3.5% |
| DOT | 8.5% | 12% |
| ATOM | 12% | 16% |
| AVAX | 5.2% | 6.5% |
The APY varies a lot between coins because the underlying blockchains have different inflation rates.
Unstaking delay
Unstaking isn't instant. DOT, for example, requires a 28-day unbonding period, during which the coins are unusable and earn no interest. This is a rule at the blockchain protocol level, not something Binance controls.
ETH staking (WBETH / Ethereum staking)
Since Ethereum completed its move to PoS in 2022, you can stake ETH to earn rewards. Binance offers two ways to do this:
Regular ETH staking
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Minimum amount | 0.0001 ETH |
| APY | Roughly 3.5-4% |
| Lock-up | None (liquid version) |
| Payout currency | ETH |
WBETH (Wrapped Beacon ETH)
WBETH is Binance's "liquid staking token". After staking ETH, you receive WBETH, which you can trade on the spot market — meaning you keep earning staking rewards while still having liquidity.
WBETH's exchange rate against ETH gradually rises as rewards accumulate — one WBETH is redeemable for a growing amount of ETH over time, which is how the returns show up.
Dual Investment
A high-return, high-risk structured product.
How it works
Dual Investment is essentially "selling an option for a premium". You deposit USDT and agree on a target price (say, BTC at 100,000) and a maturity date. At maturity:
- If BTC < 100,000: you get back your USDT plus a high rate of interest
- If BTC ≥ 100,000: you get back BTC (converted at 100,000) plus a high rate of interest
Either way you settle, you earn that high interest. But being forced to sell your principal effectively means you might end up "selling at a price you didn't want to sell at".
Real-world test: BTC Dual Investment
We tried a 100 USDT dual investment position:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Deposit | 100 USDT |
| Target price | 95,000 BTC |
| Term | 7 days |
| APY | 65% |
| 7-day interest | 1.25 USDT |
7 days later, BTC was at 96,500 (above the 95,000 target):
- Settlement currency: BTC
- Amount received: 100 / 95,000 + interest = 0.001063 BTC
- USD value at the time: 0.001063 × 96,500 = 102.58 USD
If you'd held USDT without doing the dual investment: 0 return. If you'd bought BTC directly and held it for 7 days: 100 / 95,237 × 96,500 = 101.32 USD.
The dual investment earned 1.26 USD more than buying BTC outright, and 2.58 USD more than holding USDT. But that's largely down to luck. If BTC had rallied to 105,000, you'd still have settled in BTC at 95,000, missing out on the upside. If BTC had dropped to 90,000, you'd have settled in USDT (100 + 1.25), but missed out on buying BTC cheap.
The risk profile of Dual Investment
Dual Investment is not a risk-free product. Its essence is "giving up some potential upside in exchange for a guaranteed high rate". If you don't understand the underlying options logic, it's best to steer clear as a newcomer.
Liquidity Farming
Provide an LP (Liquidity Pair) to a Binance liquidity pool and earn a share of trading fees.
How it works
Liquidity farming requires you to deposit two coins at once (say, BTC + USDT) as a pair. The ratio of the two coins automatically rebalances according to the pool.
Risk: Impermanent Loss
If BTC rallies hard, the pool's BTC balance decreases and its USDT balance increases. By the time you redeem, you end up with less BTC than you started with. This is impermanent loss — you thought you had "exposure to both sides going up", but arbitrageurs ended up eating into one side of your position.
Real-world test data
Over a given period, comparing "BTC/USDT liquidity farming" against "holding 50% BTC + 50% USDT":
| Approach | Performance after 7 days |
|---|---|
| Liquidity farming | +0.5% |
| 50% BTC + 50% USDT held | +1.2% |
The 0.5% in fee income from farming wasn't enough to cover the 0.7% impermanent loss. This happens often in volatile markets. Liquidity farming works best in a sideways market.
Launchpool (lock-up mining for new coins)
Lock up BNB, FDUSD, USDT, or similar coins for a period to mine rewards in a newly listed Binance coin.
How it works
Every time Binance lists a new coin, it typically runs a companion Launchpool event, usually lasting 7-30 days. During that period, the BNB you lock is unusable, and you mine the new coin in proportion to your share of the pool.
Real-world test: participating in a Launchpool
One Launchpool project:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Locked coin | BNB |
| Amount locked | 1 BNB |
| Term | 7 days |
| Total reward pool | 1,000,000 NEW |
| Total network locked | 5,000,000 BNB |
| My share | 1 / 5,000,000 = 2e-7 |
| My reward | 0.2 NEW |
| NEW listing price | 0.5 USDT |
| My USD return | 0.1 USDT (over 7 days) |
| APY | Roughly 0.5% |
But the real appeal of Launchpool is "getting a free new coin" — the BNB you locked is unaffected and returned to you, and you get a bit of a new token for free on top of it. If that new coin rallies hard after listing, your return can multiply.
Auto-Invest
A combination of dollar-cost averaging and interest-bearing products. You set a fixed amount, it automatically buys a specified coin on a schedule, and automatically deposits the purchased coin into a matching interest-bearing product.
Suited to
- Long-term bulls on a specific coin (like BTC or ETH) who don't want to try to time the market
- Anyone wanting to spread out purchases to reduce exposure to price volatility around the average cost
Real-world test: weekly BTC dollar-cost averaging
Setup: automatically buy 50 USDT of BTC every Monday.
After 7 weeks:
| Week | BTC price at the time | Amount bought |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 92,000 | 0.000543 |
| 2 | 94,500 | 0.000529 |
| 3 | 91,500 | 0.000546 |
| 4 | 96,000 | 0.000521 |
| 5 | 95,237 | 0.000525 |
| 6 | 97,200 | 0.000514 |
| 7 | 95,800 | 0.000522 |
Over 7 weeks, this accumulated 0.003700 BTC at an average cost of 94,595 USDT/BTC. BTC moved between 91,500 and 97,200 during this window, and this kind of spread-out buying carries lower risk than "putting it all in at once".
Comparing all 8 sections
| Section | Risk | Liquidity | APY | Newcomer friendliness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flexible Earn | Very low | Instant | 1-8% | High |
| Locked Earn | Low | Locked | 5-15% | Medium-high |
| On-chain staking | Low | Unbonding period | 3-15% | Medium |
| ETH staking | Low | Liquid version OK | 3-4% | Medium |
| Dual Investment | Medium | Locked | 20-100% nominal | Low |
| Liquidity Farming | Medium-high | Instant (with a penalty) | 5-30% | Low |
| Launchpool | Low (depends on the new coin's quality) | Locked | Depends on the project | Medium |
| Auto-Invest | Depends on the coin | Instant | Depends on price trend | High |
First-time subscription advice for newcomers
Recommended path for a complete newcomer testing the waters on Earn for the first time:
- Flexible USDT: subscribe 100 USDT to get a feel for "interest being paid out"
- Watch it for 7 days: seeing your balance tick up slightly each day helps you get used to how the product works
- 30-day Locked USDT: subscribe another 100 USDT locked for 30 days to compare the rate difference
- Try simple on-chain staking: stake 10 SOL flexibly to feel the difference between "coin-denominated" and "USD-denominated" returns
- Skip Dual Investment and Liquidity Farming for now: wait at least 3 months before considering them
For the account opening and deposit steps that come before this, see the Account Setup and Deposit Lab categories.
FAQ
Q: Can I lose my principal in Earn products? A: Flexible, Locked, staking, and ETH staking don't put your principal at risk under normal conditions — the only risk is Binance's own operational risk, which is extremely small. Dual Investment and Liquidity Farming carry a risk of your principal coin being forcibly converted or reduced by impermanent loss, but even then it doesn't go to "zero".
Q: What if I need the money in a Locked product before it matures? A: Use the "Early Redemption" button, but you'll lose part of the interest (the exact proportion depends on the product page). For large amounts, check ahead of time whether early redemption is even available — a small number of Locked products don't allow it at all.
Q: How long does it take to unlock staked SOL? A: Flexible staking on Binance unlocks instantly; Locked staking unlocks at maturity. But the underlying blockchain protocol sometimes requires a 2-28 day "on-chain cooldown", which Binance handles on your behalf.
Q: Can I change the target price on a Dual Investment position? A: No. Once subscribed, the target price, maturity date, and rate are all locked in. To change the terms, you have to wait for the current term to mature and redeem, then resubscribe.
Q: Can I trade Launchpool rewards immediately? A: Yes. Mined new coins land in your spot wallet and can be sold immediately. But many people choose to hold and wait for a higher price.
Q: Can Auto-Invest be stopped? A: Yes. Auto-Invest has "Pause" and "Cancel" buttons. Pausing skips the next cycle's purchase and can be resumed anytime. Canceling lets any already-invested portion continue running to completion.
Q: Are all Earn products visible in the app? A: Mostly, but some newly launched products may take longer to appear in the app. The web version tends to get new products first. Newcomers can start on the app and gradually explore the wider set of options on the web.
Q: Do Earn earnings need to be taxed? A: It depends on the tax laws in your country. In mainland China, Binance earnings aren't directly visible in the domestic tax system, but it's still recommended to comply with local tax law. Consult a local tax professional for specifics.
Q: Can I use funds in Earn as loan collateral? A: Binance has a "Binance Loans" product that lets you borrow USDT against certain coins held in Earn. That's a separate product line — you access it through the "Binance Loans" page.