HostSTETH vs USDM — price, size and safety, side by side
STETH (Ethereum) vs USDM (Ethereum) — every figure is the freshest dated measurement we hold for that token, never a live-feed guess. Prices stamped 2026-10-16 / 2026-10-17.
STETH vs USDM — normalized performance, 2026-09-08 to 2026-10-16T21:15:32
| STETH | USDM | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.46K | $0.9928 |
| Market cap | $24.20B | $6.50B |
| 24h volume | $6.05M DEX | $7.97M DEX |
| Liquidity | $74.96M | $57.34M |
| FDV | $24.16B | $6.50B |
| Holders | — | 175 |
| Age (days) | 1,549 | 1,021 |
| Safety grade | B | B |
Where they differ
- STETH measures ~3.7× the market cap of USDM
What the data says
STETH
stETH is the receipt that made Ethereum staking liquid — deposit ETH with Lido, receive stETH, and the balance re-bases upward daily as staking rewards accrue. The contract at 0xae7ab96520de3a18e5e111b5eaab095312d7fe84 is the canonical deployment; our October 9, 2026 snapshot reads $75.0 million of tracked pool liquidity, against only about $1.5 million of recorded daily volume in this pair set. That thin on-chain turnover is the honest kind: stETH's real exit is the redemption path through Lido itself plus deep exchange books, not the DEX pools our sampler measures.
The risk shape is the one every liquid-staking token carries: stETH is a claim on staked ETH, not ETH — it has traded visibly under par before (June 2022, when withdrawal uncertainty met a leverage unwind), and its value rests on Lido's validator set, Ethereum's exit queue, and the redemption machinery that ultimately anchors it. A rebase token also confuses some wallets, DeFi pools and tax tools — the count in your balance literally changes daily, which is exactly the friction its wrapped sibling wstETH exists to remove.
USDM
USDM is Mountain Protocol's yield-bearing dollar — a regulated, rebasing stablecoin that pays T-bill yield to holders by growing their balance rather than requiring a stake contract. The deployment 0xbbaec992fc2d637151daf40451f160bf85f3c8c1 is the Ethereum mint; our October 6, 2026 snapshot reads $57 million of tracked pool liquidity.
The honest mechanics: rebasing means balance and "value" move together — a wallet holding USDM sees the unit count tick up daily as yield accrues, which is elegant until accounting or a DeFi pool assumes a static balance. Regulated in Bermuda, permissioned to hold — both the feature set and the limitation come from the same compliance posture.
FAQ
Which is bigger, STETH or USDM?
By tracked market cap: STETH (Ethereum) measures $24.20B and USDM (Ethereum) measures $6.50B — dated snapshots, not a live feed.
Which is safer, STETH or USDM?
On the contract checks we publish: STETH (Ethereum) grades B and USDM (Ethereum) grades B. A grade is a structural check on the contract, not a promise about the asset.
How have STETH and USDM performed over the shared window?
Between 2026-09-08 and 2026-10-16T21:15:32, the measured snapshots show STETH at −0.66% and USDM at −0.40%.
The grade column is the one CMC's compare page cannot print — our grade is computed from the contract itself (mint/freeze authority, liquidity, holder concentration). Changes are measured over the shared window stated on the chart, 2026-09-08→2026-10-16T21:15:32; a token with fewer measured points measures a shorter span inside it.
Figures are dated on-chain snapshots, not a live feed. Safety grades are structural checks — not investment advice. Free · no signup · a HostDeFi product.