Start your staking journey or explore more information about staking on Polkadot's Home PageDiscover this new Staking Dashboard that makes staking much easier and check our extensive article list in the Overview article to help you get started.


In this article, we explain how to unbond staked tokens using the Staking Dashboard. You can decide to stop being a nominator at any time by unbonding. You may need to connect your extension account first.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

Please note that there is an unbonding period, currently 28 days on Polkadot and 7 days on Kusama.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

"Fast-unstake" has been implemented in Kusama. It allows to circunvent 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 the support article "Can I Transfer DOT Without Unbonding and Waiting 28 days?."


In this example, we're using the Westend testnet, but the process is the same for Polkadot and Kusama.


How to Unbond


1. Navigate to your nominations on the Stake tab, and click the Stop button. Sign and submit the transaction.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

If you don't see a Stop button, it means you're not currently nominating any validators. In this case, you can skip to Step 2.


ℹ️ GOOD TO KNOW

If you're only unbonding some of your staked tokens and intend to keep staking, there is no need to stop nominating. In this case, skip to step 2. Just make sure that your bonded funds are still above the minimum bond needed to nominate, otherwise you will receive the InsufficientBond error.




2. Next, click the minus icon.



3. Choose whether you'd like to unbond all or just some of your tokens.



4. Sign and submit the transaction.


5. After the unbonding period has concluded, select the unlock icon to fully withdraw the unbonded tokens.



6. Sign and submit the transaction to complete the process.



The tokens should then show up again in your transferable balance.


If you are more of a visual learner, check the guide below. It covers all things you can do after you start staking. You can skip to 1:54 to learn about unbonding: