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

Run python onchain_analytics.py protocols to retrieve the top DeFi protocols ranked by total value locked (TVL).
Filter protocol results by category using --category lending, --category dex, or --category "liquid staking" to narrow the scope.
Filter by chain with --chain ethereum or --chain arbitrum to isolate chain-specific protocol data.
Sort results by alternative metrics using --sort market_share or --sort tvl_to_mcap to surface undervalued protocols.
Run python onchain_analytics.py chains to retrieve chain-level TVL rankings across all tracked networks.
Run python onchain_analytics.py fees --protocol aave to pull fee and revenue data for a specific protocol.
Run python onchain_analytics.py dex --chain ethereum to analyze DEX trading volumes filtered by chain.
Run python onchain_analytics.py yields --min-tvl 5000000 --chain ethereum to identify yield opportunities above a minimum TVL threshold.
Run python onchain_analytics.py trends --threshold 5 to detect protocols with significant TVL changes (threshold is percentage).
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 https://status.llama.fi/ 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

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