As mentioned in this article, there's a dynamic minimum of DOT that you need to have bonded in order to nominate validators and get rewards, which you can see on Nominate tab of the Staking Dashboard:



If you don't have that amount of DOT, your options for getting rewards while staking solo are limited. But with the introduction of Nomination Pools, things are about to change. Nomination Pools are live on Polkadot, and everyone can nominate and receive staking rewards with as little as 1 DOT!


TABLE OF CONTENTS

What are my options?

If you have already bonded less than the minimum needed


If you have bonded less than the minimum required to nominate and get rewards, you can unbond your DOT and join a nomination pool. Here's how:


1. If you haven't actively supported any validator for the past 28 eras, you can unbond in just a few minutes by following the steps in this article. If you had active validators until recently, follow this guide to unbond your tokens in 28 days.


2. Once your DOT is transferable, you can join a nomination pool.


ℹ️ INFO

"Fast Unstake" has been implemented on Polkadot and Kusama. It allows to circumvent the unbonding period if the staker was not exposed to any active validator for the last unbonding period (28 eras). Check other required conditions in this article: Can I Transfer DOT Without Unbonding and Waiting 28 days?


If you haven't bonded your DOT


In that case, things are even simpler. All you have to do is join a nomination pool and start receiving rewards.


That's it!