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A Ready DeFi Portfolio for Beginners

· 15 min read

What portfolio should a beginner build, what should it include, and how does the overall structure look? I prepared a simple framework that you can follow confidently over the next several years. This approach helps you develop a stable investment system and avoid common mistakes.

The first element is the income from your main activity. I have already explained this earlier in the module. The most important thing is having a surplus of money — a portion of your earnings that you can regularly allocate to investments. We invest in cryptocurrency consistently.

On the diagram, I mark a calendar date — for example, the 5th day of each month, or any other day that matches your income schedule from business or work.

On this day, you allocate a comfortable amount for investing. Regular contributions are the key factor. This is why I highlight this step. Long-term investment success depends on regularity.

Let’s say this amount is 1000 dollars. You purchase cryptocurrency with your national currency using Bybit or our exchange service, where you convert cash or non-cash rubles or dollars into crypto credited to your exchange account.

You may use any exchange. I personally use Bybit, but Binance or any other platform supporting your national currency works equally well.

Next, you can deposit funds directly to your wallet if you use the exchange service that sends assets straight to MetaMask. In this case, the step of using a centralized exchange can be skipped unless you plan to purchase assets through the trading terminal.

Then you withdraw funds to your self-custody wallet in any network that is convenient for you: Arbitrum, Optimism, etc. Later, you can always move your assets between networks using bridges, so there is nothing to worry about.

The Ethereum network can be skipped initially if your capital is small. Even with larger capital, it is better to use Ethereum later — once you clearly understand how you operate in DeFi and which instruments you’ll use.

As a result, you have 1000 dollars in your wallet. What next? What portfolio do I recommend?

Portfolio Structure​

1. 30% in Stablecoins​

The first step is allocating 30% to stablecoins.

  • These 30% should remain in stablecoins,
  • But not sit idle — they must be placed into:
    • liquidity pools and
    • lending deposits

For example, on Aave or Compound. This is sufficient at the initial stage to ensure your stablecoins work and generate stable yield.

2. 25% in Ethereum​

Next, we buy Ethereum with 25% of the portfolio.

You can also stake it into a liquid staking token — for example:

  • deposit ETH into Lido
  • receive stETH
  • earn around 3% annually in pure ETH

Later, this staked Ethereum can be used as collateral on lending markets. The principle remains the same: we borrow stablecoins against a strong asset and then allocate them either into liquidity pools or into lending deposits.

Main rule: your yield must exceed the borrowing rate.

You can use borrowed stablecoins for liquidity pools with Ethereum, but you should not do this at the beginning, because this process is far more complex than it appears. I explain the details — including liquidity concentration, volatility risks, and the mechanics of Uniswap V3 — in the dedicated liquidity module. There are many nuances and technical risks, so beginners should avoid this for now.

Focus only on stablecoins borrowed against Ethereum.

3. 25% in Bitcoin​

The same applies to Bitcoin.

We buy Bitcoin in the Arbitrum, Optimism or Ethereum networks. Even if you withdraw from a centralized exchange, you will often receive wBTC — a wrapped version of Bitcoin that exists on these chains.

Wrapped Bitcoin can also be used as collateral on lending markets. Under this collateral, we borrow stablecoins and then distribute them across different strategies.

4. 10% in BTC Liquidity Pools​

The next component is allocating 10% to BTC liquidity pools that earn:

  • commissions (swap fees) and
  • trader-loss yield on decentralized exchanges.

This is a strong position: BTC pools allow you to earn both from swap fees and from the statistical losses of traders.

5. 10% in ETH Liquidity Pools​

Another 10% is allocated to ETH pools.

This process is repeated monthly:

  • Each month you receive income from your main activity
  • Allocate funds to investments
  • Distribute capital across these positions in fixed proportions

This is the best foundational portfolio for a beginner. It is absolutely suitable for your first steps in DeFi. Later, you can easily modify and restructure it — but first you must understand how the instruments work.

Why This Structure Works​

Lending protocols are the foundation. But beyond them, DeFi includes a huge range of tools, all covered in the main educational module.

At the initial stage, this portfolio is more than enough. It works well in any market phase:

  • You earn yield from stablecoin pools
  • You earn yield from lending markets
  • You benefit from long-term growth of Ethereum and Bitcoin, which you hold as collateral while gradually increasing their quantity
  • You also have BTC and ETH pools that generate income from commissions and trader losses

In this lesson, I will show the full process step by step: from receiving stablecoins in your wallet to allocating ETH and BTC, opening positions, and tracking the entire portfolio. This will give you a clear overview of:

  • which assets rise,
  • which decline,
  • and how the structure performs overall.

Flexibility of the Portfolio​

Earlier I mentioned target values: ideally, Bitcoin should make up around 70% of a long-term portfolio. In this model it is smaller — and that is normal.

The portfolio is flexible and individual. Beginners usually do not yet understand the market or its cycles. That is why this particular structure is the optimal starting point.

Later you will be able to adjust proportions:

  • increase or decrease stablecoin exposure,
  • modify the BTC/ETH ratio,
  • enhance yield-generating strategies

— everything will adapt as your understanding grows.

Evolution With Experience​

Next, as you go through the main training program in the Academy, you will naturally gain more exposure, understanding, skills, and practical experience with DeFi instruments.

Over time, you will develop a clear understanding of which DeFi strategies fit your goals, and your portfolio will evolve accordingly. Percentage allocations will change depending on:

  • market conditions,
  • current trends,
  • ecosystem cycles,
  • periods with higher token incentives across protocols

Everything is highly individual and flexible, and the opportunities for yield in DeFi are significant.

However, the foundational structure of the portfolio should remain exactly as described earlier. This foundation protects you from mistakes and impulsive decisions.

This is the initial portfolio composition that I recommend to every beginner taking the Web3 bootcamp or the basic modules. The PDF file with the complete scheme will be attached to the lesson.

Practical Implementation​

Now we move on to building the investment portfolio.

I have pre-funded my wallet. You can withdraw to any wallet you prefer — MetaMask, Rabby, Trust Wallet, or any other option.

This is the amount I am willing to invest monthly into cryptocurrency, and from this amount I will assemble and replenish the portfolio every month.

Reminder: Staked Ethereum and Deposit Tokens​

Let me remind you of an important point from previous lessons.

Remember how I staked Ethereum using Lido? The balance has increased because staking rewards are accrued by increasing the amount of ETH you hold. I will show the exact number: the amount has grown because staking yield is always paid by adding more ETH, not by issuing a separate token.

You will also notice additional tokens in your wallet — this is normal. These are the tokenized representations of your deposits on the Optimism blockchain within the lending protocol.

  • When you deposit USDC or USDT, the protocol issues a token (such as cUSDC or aUSDC)
  • These tokens grow in quantity over time
  • Later, you burn this token to withdraw your initial deposit along with accumulated interest

This is standard behavior — nothing to worry about. These tokens simply reflect your stablecoins working inside the lending market.

Step-by-Step: Assembling the Portfolio​

Step 1 — Buy ETH (25%)​

The first step is to go to our DEX aggregator.

Here you always get the best rate for buying any asset on any supported network.

  • I choose USDT → ETH
  • Buy Ethereum with 25% of my monthly investment

I connect my wallet, press “Review”, and confirm the transaction — this is equivalent to any decentralized exchange swap.

  • First transaction: approval
  • Second transaction: actual swap into Ethereum on Arbitrum

The Ethereum is now purchased and displayed in my wallet balance.

Step 2 — Buy BTC (25%)​

Next, I want to buy Bitcoin with 25% of the portfolio.

I open the swap interface again and type BTC in the search bar. As you can see, it does not appear. Only the wrapped version — wBTC Arbitrum — shows up, which is the Bitcoin already integrated into Aave. We do not need this exact token.

Instead, we manually add the Wrapped Bitcoin contract through the block explorer. I demonstrated this earlier in the “Getting Started” module.

  • I go to Arbiscan, search for wBTC
  • It shows the official Wrapped Bitcoin contract
  • I copy the contract address, return to the swap interface, and paste it

The interface automatically loads the token metadata — here is the Wrapped Bitcoin I need.

  • I select the amount — 25 dollars
  • Execute the swap

Do not pay attention to misleading preview numbers — the detailed section shows the correct values (for example, a 2-cent fee).

Wrapped Bitcoin is now on my wallet balance: 25 dollars. Ethereum is also there — including the staked ETH from the previous staking module.

Step 3 — Using Assets as Collateral​

Now I can start using these assets.

I can supply them as collateral. Both Aave and Compound are suitable options — the choice depends on borrowing rates.

In the previous lesson, I showed that the borrowing rate on Optimism was negative at that moment. That is temporary. Borrowing rates tend to normalize across networks over time. For now, we can take advantage of this, but the general long-term workflow usually involves Aave.

So I open Aave and supply Bitcoin.

  • It appears as available in my wallet
  • I press “Supply” and enable it as collateral

Important tip​

If in a previous lesson I deposited 10 USDT only to earn yield and did not want to use those USDT as collateral, I simply:

  • toggle off “Use as collateral”

This means:

  • USDT remain purely as a passive deposit earning yield
  • Bitcoin will be used as collateral for borrowing

These positions stay independent from each other.

Now I supply Bitcoin:

  • First transaction: approval
  • Second: actual supply

I receive the corresponding aTokens (for example, aWBTC), which represent my deposit inside Aave.

Their displayed value may appear as zero, but their actual market value fully matches the value of the underlying asset.

Now Bitcoin is supplied as collateral.

I can also supply the Ethereum I purchased with 25 dollars:

  • Press “Supply ETH”
  • Confirm
  • ETH is now also used as collateral

As you can see:

  • The “Collateral” indicator is active for both Bitcoin and Ethereum
  • It is disabled for my USDT

This means:

  • My stablecoin deposit has no relation to the collateralized borrowing position I may open under Bitcoin and Ethereum.

As a deposit asset, Ethereum earns 2% APY, and I can also stake it to receive stETH if I want higher ETH-denominated yield.

Step 4 — Regular vs Staked ETH as Collateral​

Again, there are two options:

  • You can receive an additional 3% yield on staked Ethereum, but:

    • borrowing limit: 70% of the value of your staked ETH
    • liquidation at 79%

  • If instead you deposit regular (unstaked) Ethereum:

    • borrowing limit: 82.5%
    • you can borrow 12.5% more compared to using staked ETH

Therefore, you decide for yourself which option is better.

I realized that when working specifically with collateral positions, it is more efficient to hold regular Ethereum:

  • I can borrow more
  • Liquidation threshold is farther away

Step 5 — Borrow Stablecoins​

Now let’s take a loan.

  • Suppose I borrow 10
  • The health factor is explained in detail in the dedicated module

I borrowed 10 at an 8% rate.

Regarding the health factor: the target value I try to maintain is around 2, especially when you invest regularly.

You can always:

  • buy more ETH later and increase collateral, raising the health factor
  • enable USDT as collateral during a market decline — this will also raise the health factor, since USDT will serve as additional protection

Step 6 — What to Do With Borrowed Stablecoins​

Now the question is: what should we do with the 10 stablecoins we just borrowed?

There are many options:

  • Use them in liquidity pools
  • For beginners: only stablecoin pools in different networks

I show a specific tool now.

Remember the liquidity position we opened earlier? Yes, it briefly moved out of range, but that is not a problem — it will return, since today’s deviation is simply an abnormal fluctuation.

You can now add liquidity to the USDC/USDT pair.

Step 7 — Tracking Stablecoin Yields​

How to track yields?

On average, stablecoin pairs on any network — Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon — yield around 7% with a wide range.

  • A narrower range increases yield
  • But also increases risk

You can use these averages as references.

Today we explore the Gamma platform.

  • I open Gamma
  • Choose the Arbitrum network
  • Select the USDC/USDT pair

I sort by rewards and see that this pair — the one I already provided liquidity to — offers an additional 17% APY in Arbitrum tokens.

These are the same incentives I explained previously:

  • Arbitrum allocates its tokens to attract liquidity to its network

All I need to do is:

  • connect my wallet
  • in the Dashboard, rewards will appear after a few days of activity

Here you will see Arbitrum rewards.

You can track this across other networks as well — it depends on where you deploy liquidity. Gamma helps you find pools with incentives.

Important: use only stablecoin pools. There are many others, but volatile pairs are not suitable for beginners.

Even now, the USDC/USDT pool on Arbitrum with a wide range yields around 20% total:

  • ~5% from base fees
  • ~17% from Arbitrum token rewards

These tokens can be sold or held long term.

This tool should be used together with Uniswap, constantly monitoring incentive programs. Today Arbitrum is attractive; tomorrow it might be Optimism, Mantle, Polygon, Scroll, etc.

“Playing Against Traders” With GMX​

Now the part where we “play against traders”.

I will not go deep into the mechanics, because it would take too much time. All you need to do is:

  • go to the GMX platform (link in the lesson)
  • connect your wallet (for example, Rabby)
  • switch to the Arbitrum network

At the bottom, you will see the GLP pools:

  • BTC-GLP
  • ETH-GLP

The yield on BTC-GLP is 13% per year, plus small additional Arbitrum token rewards. The total yield for the last seven days is around 17% APY.

All you need to do is:

  • click Buy
  • allocate 10% of your portfolio for this instrument
  • buy GLP-Bitcoin

These tokens earn:

  • from trading fees paid by traders
  • from trader losses
  • from Bitcoin growth

Of course, GLP grows slower than pure Bitcoin, because half of the pool consists of stablecoins.

Now I repeat the same for the ETH pool:

  • click Buy
  • choose stablecoins instead of Ethereum
  • enter 10 dollars
  • confirm

In a few seconds:

  • Positions appear on the platform
  • For example: 6 GLP-BTC ($10), 6.19 GLP-ETH ($10)

How Yield Is Accrued​

The yield is:

  • Automatically reinvested into the position
  • The number of GLP tokens stays the same
  • Their price increases over time

Price is affected by:

  • Market growth/decline in BTC or ETH
  • Aggregated trader losses and fees

What a Beginner Actually Needs to Do​

In the end, everything a beginner needs to do to create a strong and stable income and to build a resilient portfolio is to use the basic tools.

There will be no hundreds of thousands of percent, no astronomical returns.

But at the initial stage, this is an excellent yield on stablecoins.

We:

  • Do not miss the growth of Ethereum and Bitcoin, because they are always present in our portfolio
  • Regularly, every month, buy them for a fixed percentage of our investment amount
  • Borrow stablecoins and allocate them to liquidity pools
  • With tools like Merkly, track yields across stablecoin pools in different networks
  • If we find higher yields elsewhere, we move stablecoins via bridges

The income earned from stablecoins can be directed:

  • into more Bitcoin
  • into more Ethereum
  • or reinvested back into stablecoins

We also regularly buy Bitcoin and Ethereum, protecting the portfolio during market drawdowns. These positions are balanced and have excellent long-term prospects.

Over long timeframes, they perform reliably, because traders always lose more than they earn in the long run.

Tracking the Portfolio With DeBank​

Now, how do we track all this:

  • our positions,
  • how much we invested,
  • what transactions we performed,
  • and what positions are open across networks?

We use the DeBank service.

Steps:

  1. Click Log in
  2. Choose your wallet
  3. Click Proceed
  4. Click Verify
  5. Pass the captcha
  6. Sign the message

DeBank opens. There is no danger in connecting your wallet to this service:

  • We only connected
  • We did not approve token spending
  • We did not grant permissions
  • We did not allow access to assets

Here we see all positions:

  • balances on different networks
  • staked Ethereum (from the staking module)
  • Aave position
  • collateral
  • borrowed amount
  • Uniswap V3 position
  • Compound position

Everything demonstrated in previous lessons appears here.

All our positions will be publicly visible in your DeBank profile. This is how you track your transactions over time.

If you use pools that distribute rewards via Merkly, you will see a Merkly tab — there you will find reward tokens, most likely in Arbitrum, distributed for providing liquidity.

What’s Next​

In the next and final lesson of this module, I will explain what to do next.

These materials are created for educational purposes only and do not constitute financial advice.