analyzing-on-chain-data

Analyzing On-Chain Data

Overview

Analyze DeFi protocol metrics, chain-level TVL, fee revenue, DEX volumes, yield opportunities, and stablecoin market caps using DeFiLlama as the primary data source. Designed for DeFi researchers, protocol analysts, and yield farmers who need programmatic access to on-chain analytics without writing custom subgraph queries.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+ with requests library installed
• DeFiLlama API access (free, no key required for most endpoints)
• Optional: CoinGecko API key for supplementary token price data
• onchain_analytics.py CLI script available in the plugin directory
• data_fetcher.py and metrics_calculator.py modules for programmatic usage

Instructions

1. Run python onchain_analytics.py protocols to retrieve the top DeFi protocols ranked by total value locked (TVL).
2. Filter protocol results by category using --category lending, --category dex, or --category "liquid staking" to narrow the scope.
3. Filter by chain with --chain ethereum or --chain arbitrum to isolate chain-specific protocol data.
4. Sort results by alternative metrics using --sort market_share or --sort tvl_to_mcap to surface undervalued protocols.
5. Run python onchain_analytics.py chains to retrieve chain-level TVL rankings across all tracked networks.
6. Run python onchain_analytics.py fees --protocol aave to pull fee and revenue data for a specific protocol.
7. Run python onchain_analytics.py dex --chain ethereum to analyze DEX trading volumes filtered by chain.
8. Run python onchain_analytics.py yields --min-tvl 5000000 --chain ethereum to identify yield opportunities above a minimum TVL threshold.
9. Run python onchain_analytics.py trends --threshold 5 to detect protocols with significant TVL changes (threshold is percentage).
10. Export results in JSON or CSV format using --format json or --format csv and redirect to file for downstream analysis.

See ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/implementation.md for the full four-step implementation workflow.

Output

• Protocol rankings table with name, TVL, market share percentage, and TVL-to-market-cap ratio
• Chain TVL rankings showing aggregate locked value per network
• Fee and revenue reports per protocol with daily/weekly/monthly breakdowns
• DEX volume tables with per-chain and per-DEX breakdowns
• Yield opportunity listings filtered by minimum TVL and chain, including APY and pool details
• Trending protocol alerts showing TVL percentage changes above the configured threshold
• Stablecoin market cap summaries
• JSON (output.json) or CSV (output.csv) export files for programmatic consumption

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Request timeout	DeFiLlama API slow or unreachable	Wait and retry; check for outages; use cached data if available
Protocol not found: invalid-name	Protocol slug does not match DeFiLlama database	Run python onchain_analytics.py protocols to find the exact slug; slugs are case-sensitive
No data returned for query	Filter too restrictive or data unavailable	Remove filters and retry; verify the category or chain exists; try a broader time range
TVL data unavailable for some protocols	New protocols or data collection gaps	Check DeFiLlama directly; data typically appears within 24 hours of listing
Data may be stale (last updated: X hours ago)	Local cache not refreshed	Clear cache with rm ~/.onchain_analytics_cache.json; use --verbose to check cache status
Showing top 50 of 1000+ protocols	Output truncated for readability	Use --limit to increase count or --format json for full untruncated data
UnicodeEncodeError	Terminal encoding mismatch	Use --format json for safe output or set LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Examples

Daily DeFi Overview

python onchain_analytics.py protocols --limit 20
python onchain_analytics.py chains
python onchain_analytics.py trends

Produces a snapshot of the top 20 protocols by TVL, all chain rankings, and any protocols trending above the default threshold.

Research a Lending Protocol

python onchain_analytics.py protocols --category lending --sort tvl_to_mcap
python onchain_analytics.py fees --protocol aave

Ranks all lending protocols by TVL-to-market-cap ratio (identifying potentially undervalued protocols), then pulls detailed fee and revenue data for Aave.

Find High-TVL Yield Opportunities on Ethereum

python onchain_analytics.py yields --min-tvl 10000000 --chain ethereum --limit 50  # 10000000 = 10M limit

Returns up to 50 yield pools on Ethereum with at least $10M in TVL, sorted by APY. Export with --format csv > yields.csv for spreadsheet analysis.

Resources

• DeFiLlama API Documentation -- primary data source for TVL, fees, yields, and DEX volumes
• DeFiLlama Status Page -- check API availability and outage reports
• CoinGecko API -- supplementary token price and market cap data
• Dune Analytics -- custom SQL queries against on-chain data for deeper analysis
• The Graph -- decentralized indexing protocol for querying blockchain data via GraphQL