You must stake at least 1.0046 SOL. Marinade never creates stake accounts smaller than 1 SOL, and the small amount on top covers stake account rent and network fees. If you try to stake less, you'll see the message: “You can’t stake less than 1 SOL.”
⚠️ Note: Make sure to leave at least 0.03 SOL in your wallet to cover future transaction and priority fees.
If you deposit under 100 SOL, your stake will be spread across fewer validators instead of the full set. For the best distribution and decentralization, we recommend staking 100 SOL or more so your position can be allocated across all validators in the strategy.
Position size can also affect the rate you realise. A smaller position sits in a smaller number of accounts, closer to the 1 SOL minimum, and an account under 2 SOL has to move whole during a rebalance rather than being split, missing an epoch of rewards while it reactivates. See I Deposited But Have No Rewards Yet.