Rob Montgomery🦞

How to make DeFi research like a pro. I get asked often how I find the opportunities I write about. The honest answer is that I use a small set of tools consistently and I have learned what each one is best at. Here are the three I keep coming back to. 1. DeFiLlama No surprise that this is first. Built by a team that includes @0xngmi, DeFiLlama tracks over 7,300 protocols across 521 blockchains, making it the largest open-source TVL aggregator in crypto. It is also fully open-source, which matters for anyone who cares about data transparency. What I use it for most is understanding ecosystem-wide movements. How stablecoin flows affect TVL, where yields are shifting, and what the raw numbers say about a protocol's health before I go deeper. @DefiLlama excels at showing the big picture and the free tier covers everything you need for solid foundational research. The UI is clean and easy to navigate, so the learning curve is low. For those who want more, the paid tiers unlock LlamaAI, DeFiLlama's newly built conversational analysis agent, alongside direct API access and raw database queries. If you are a researcher focused purely on protocol metrics, flows, and on-chain numbers, this is your starting point every single time. 2. Pharos Watch This one has quietly become my favorite for stablecoin research. Built by @TokenBrice, Pharos is completely free and pulls from DeFiLlama and other data APIs to deliver live market intelligence specifically built around stablecoins. The depth of what it covers is what separates it. @PharosWatch runs a Depeg Early Warning System, DEWS, with threat levels ranging from Calm all the way to Danger. It also tracks the Pharos Stability Index, PSI, which classifies current market regimes. BEDROCK signals ultra-stable conditions. MELTDOWN signals crisis. Knowing which regime you are operating in before you deploy capital is genuinely useful. Safety grades run from A to F and factor in decentralization, liquidity depth, and redeemability. Individual coin profiles show peg scores, depeg history including how long each depeg lasted, mint and burn activity, liquidity tracking, contagion simulations, and non-USD peg analysis. You can also simulate your entire stablecoin portfolio to get a safety grade before committing real exposure, which is one of the most practical features I have seen on any research tool. Pharos also has an info section that covers stablecoin news and history in a way that is actually useful for building context. The founder is genuinely engaged with users, actively collecting feedback and willing to support. That kind of accessibility is rare and it shows in how the product keeps improving. If you farm stablecoins or hold any meaningful stablecoin exposure, Pharos belongs in your workflow. 3. Stablewatch Founded by @stablecoin_p, Stablewatch positions itself as the command center for yield-bearing stablecoin intelligence and it earns that description. It is a specialized yield-focused analytics platform with strong risk advisory features built in. What I use it for most is yield hunting. Before I farm any stablecoin, I go to Stablewatch and check the project. It tracks live APYs across protocols in real time, so you are always looking at current rates rather than outdated snapshots. Beyond the numbers, it also provides risk frameworks to help you understand what you are taking on before you commit. The memo-style market reports @stablewatchHQ publishes are a goldmine for research and article sourcing. They are structured, data-rich, and save significant time when you are trying to build a clear picture of where the stablecoin yield market is moving. Stablewatch works exceptionally well alongside DeFiLlama and Pharos. DeFiLlama gives you the ecosystem view. Pharos tells you whether the peg is trustworthy. Stablewatch tells you where the best yield is and what risk comes with it. Together, the three cover the full research workflow from macro to micro. Each tool has a lane. Together, they leave very few blind spots.