The text below documents how we monitor stablecoin price stability, also known as “peg deviation,” as part of the Stress Test system.
Stablecoins are designed to maintain a 1.00 USD value. Deviations from this peg, even minor ones, can serve as early warning signs of risk events, liquidity strain, or a loss of market confidence.
We use CoinGecko’s API to retrieve daily stablecoin price data.
Purpose
Monitoring stablecoin peg deviation enables detection of:
- Market stress affecting stablecoin credibility
- Disruptions in liquidity or arbitrage mechanisms
- Early signs of depegging risk before on-chain liquidity dries up
API Endpoint
Endpoint:
GET https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/coins/markets
Query Parameters:
- vs_currency=usd
- ids=usd-coin,dai,tether,trueusd,frax
Example Query (cURL)
curl -X GET "https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/coins/markets?vs_currency=usd&ids=usd-coin,dai,tether,trueusd,frax"
Example Response (truncated)
[
{
"id": "usd-coin",
"symbol": "usdc",
"current_price": 0.998
},
{
"id": "dai",
"symbol": "dai",
"current_price": 1.001
}
]
Important Fields
Field Purpose
- **current_price ** Real-time price of the stablecoin in USD
Peg Deviation Evaluation Criteria
We track the absolute deviation from $1.00:
- Stable (Low Risk): Price between 0.995and1.005
- Moderate Risk: Price between 0.990–0.995 or 1.005–1.010
- High Risk: Price outside 0.990–1.010
- Prices updated daily are compared to these thresholds to assign a Risk Score.
Rate Limits and Notes
- CoinGecko’s public API supports 5–15 calls per minute.
- No API key required.
- We perform one daily data pull aligned with other Stress Test metrics.
Last Word
- Maintaining peg stability is fundamental to a stablecoin’s trustworthiness.
- Continuous daily monitoring of price deviation provides an essential early warning system for potential loss of peg and subsequent liquidity crises.
Responses are generated using AI and may contain mistakes.