What is circulating supply?
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 4 min
In short
Circulating supply is the portion of tokens actually available to trade, excluding locked and burned amounts. It is the figure used for market cap — but what counts as locked is defined differently by each data provider, so numbers often disagree.
Key points
- The tokens actually available for trading
- Excludes locked, undistributed and burned amounts
- This is the figure used to compute market cap
- Definitions vary by provider, so figures differ
Definition
The share of total supply that is unlocked and free to trade on the market. Market capitalisation is this figure multiplied by price.
Total supply includes team and investor allocations still locked, plus foundation holdings not yet distributed. Since none of that can be sold today, it is normally excluded when measuring the size of the market. What remains is circulating supply.
But there is no agreed definition of what to exclude. Some providers remove foundation holdings and some do not; some remove long-term staked tokens and some do not. That is one reason market-cap rankings differ between sites for the same asset.
Circulating supply is also not fixed. As vesting unlocks proceed, previously locked tokens reach the market, so it is usually designed to grow over time. Today's figure should not be read as the future one.
Watch out for
- · Future unlocks raise circulating supply, so today's market cap rests on a changing base
- · When comparing assets, stay within one data source, since definitions differ
- · A small circulating supply also means a thin book and a price that moves easily