How to Unstake Ethereum (ETH) on Lido

Short and thorough guide on how to unstake Ethereum ($ETH) via the largest liquid staking platform: Lido.
Published: May 7, 2025   |   Last Updated: May 14, 2025
Lead Writer
Archie Keshan
Archie Keshan
Milk Road Writer
Editor
Grayson Carter
Grayson Carter
Content Editor

Step-By-Step Guide on How to Unstake ETH on Lido

This page is going to focus on how to unstake ETH via Lido. In case you haven’t staked your $ETH yet, you can check out this guide on how to liquid stake your $ETH via Lido.

Let’s jump straight into the tutorial. 👇

Step 1: Visit Lido and head to the “withdrawals” section

Step 2: You will then have an option between “Request” or “Claim”. Click on “Request”.

Step 3: Under “Request”, you will have two options to unstake your $stETH:

  • Use Lido to unstake at a 1:1 ratio, but has a waiting time of 6 days.
  • Use DEXs to unstake your $stETH within minutes, but at a 1:0.9996 ratio.

For example, if you had $1,000 worth of ETH staked, the difference between unstaking on Lido and swapping on a Dex is about $0.40

There is a tradeoff between urgency and quantity. If urgency is a priority, we suggest going through DEXs (like Milk Road Swap).

Step 4: Click on “Use DEXs” and choose a DEX of your choice. Out of the DEXs listed on the platform, we prefer 1inch.

But if you want to use a DEX that has the lowest fees, we recommend Milk Road Swap.

Step 5: Once redirected to the 1inch website, input the amount of $stETH you wish to unstake and click on confirm.

You have now successfully traded your $stETH to $ETH, which is the equivalent of unstaking your $ETH.

Note: You will need to hold extra $ETH in your wallet to pay for gas fees for your transaction.

If you want to pay less gas, you can choose to stake on layer 2 networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

It depends on which route you take:

• You can use Lido to unstake at a 1:1 ratio but has a waiting time of 6 days.
• You can use a DEX like Milk Road Swap to unstake your $stETH within minutes but at a worse ratio.

 

Lido is generally a safe platform but like all crypto protocols, it doesn’t come with risk. Do your own research before choosing your staking platform.

Yes, you will get exactly 1 ETH per 1 stETH if you unstake directly via Lido but this process has a longer waiting time.

Your other option is to unstake via a DEX like Milk Road Swap which is instant but gives you a slightly lower exchange rate.

Yes, after requesting a withdrawal to unstake ETH on Lido, you need to manually claim your ETH from the “Claim” tab on Lido’s interface once the withdrawal is processed (typically 1-5 days).
Archie Keshan
Archie Keshan
Milk Road Writer
Archie has been active in the crypto space for over 3 years, dedicating his extensive research and writing skills to simplify the crypto world. Whether it’s technical writing, news articles, or blog posts, his focus is always on simplifying the complexities of blockchain for everyone.

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