What is market cap in crypto? What the number really tells you
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Market capitalisation, or market cap, is the total value of a cryptocurrency's coins in circulation. It's worked out by multiplying the current price by the number of coins in circulation, and it's the usual way coins are ranked by size.
A simple example
If a coin costs £2 and 10 million coins are in circulation, its market cap is £20 million. A coin with a lower price can still have a bigger market cap if far more coins exist.
Circulating vs fully diluted
- Circulating supply: coins that exist and can be traded now.
- Maximum or total supply: every coin that will ever exist.
- Fully diluted valuation: the price times the maximum supply, showing the value if every coin were out.
What it doesn't tell you
Market cap isn't money invested, and it doesn't mean that value could be sold at today's price. Coins with few buyers and sellers can have a high market cap that disappears quickly. Look at trading volume and who holds the coins too.
Where SendPay fits
SendPay crypto exchange platforms let your customers buy, sell and hold crypto under your own brand, and you set your own trading fee. Assets are held with regulated partners.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What is fully diluted valuation?
A token's value if every token were already circulating.
Fully diluted valuation calculator →How do I work out a market cap?
Work out any coin's market cap, and its price at another market cap.
Market cap calculator →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.