The Big Picture
Like TotalHotkeyStake but in alpha terms. When evaluating a validator on a specific subnet, TotalHotkeyAlpha shows their total backing in that subnet's native staking unit. This is the denominator for calculating delegator shares of emissions.
Why This Matters
How much alpha backs this validator? Your share of their emissions depends on (your alpha / TotalHotkeyAlpha). More alpha = more dilution but also indicates trust.
Example Scenario
Query TotalHotkeyAlpha(hotkey=validator_X) returns 50000000000000 (50T alpha). If you have 5T alpha staked to them, you own 10% of their alpha and receive ~10% of their emissions.
Common Questions
- How does this differ from TotalHotkeyStake?
- TotalHotkeyStake is in TAO across all subnets. TotalHotkeyAlpha is in alpha for the specific subnet - the unit that determines emission shares on that subnet.
- Does higher alpha mean higher returns?
- Higher TotalHotkeyAlpha means the validator has more backing (trusted) but your share is more diluted. Returns depend on your percentage share, not absolute amounts.
Use Cases
- Check a validator's total alpha backing on a subnet
- Compare validators by their alpha stake
- Calculate your share of a validator's alpha
- Build validator ranking by alpha
- Track validator growth in subnet-specific terms
From Chain Metadata
DMAP ( hot, netuid ) --> alpha | Returns the total amount of alpha a hotkey owns.
Purpose & Usage
Purpose
Track aggregate alpha from all delegators - the validator's total backing in subnet terms.
Common Query Patterns
- Query by hotkey
- Rank validators by alpha backing
- Calculate stake concentration
Query Keys
Stored Value
Relationships
Modified By
Related Events
Code Examples
import { createClient, Binary } from "polkadot-api";
import { getWsProvider } from "polkadot-api/ws";
import { sub } from "@polkadot-api/descriptors"; // generated by: npx papi add sub -w wss://entrypoint-finney.opentensor.ai:443
const client = createClient(getWsProvider("wss://entrypoint-finney.opentensor.ai:443"));
const api = client.getTypedApi(sub);
// Query TotalHotkeyAlpha storage
const hot = "5GrwvaEF5zXb26Fz9rcQpDWS57CtERHpNehXCPcNoHGKutQY";
const netuid = 1;
const result = await api.query.SubtensorModule.TotalHotkeyAlpha.getValue(hot, netuid);
console.log("TotalHotkeyAlpha:", result);On-Chain Activity
>10M estimated writes
#4 most written storage item
Modified via user-submitted extrinsics
As of block 7,429,232
Version History
Runtime Info
View Source- Pallet
- SubtensorModule
- Storage Kind
- Map
- First Version
- v233
- Current Version
- v411