To understand the full picture you need to dig into 2 topics:
- Understand the rewards formula
- Understand what happens around the rewards formula
The second point is important as the rewards formula is only one part of the rewards distribution which starts with the reserve.
Let’s start with point 2 - the big picture:
I recommend you to take a look at Understanding Rewards Flow and how it will change over time
Them coming back to point 1 - the rewards formula:
Earlier in this thread I was reforming the rewards formula to this:
This explains that a 0 pledge pool is generating 77% of the maximum possible rewards.
The remaining 23% are depending on the pledge (100% pledge means getting the full potential 23%)
As a simple example:
If the block reward is 950.
730 (77%) you get in any case.
220 (23%) are depending on your pledge. (Maximum if pool is 100% saturated with pledge only)
This means the rewards can vary between 730 and 950.
The unused potential goes back to the reserve.
To dig deeper I’d recommend you to take a look on:
- The most sophisticated calculator I know of: Cardano Reward Calculator - Dynamic Strategies
- More advanced analysis of the rewards formula: Stake rewards formula