--- title: "What Is Market Capitalization in Crypto? Price Times Supply, and Its Limits" term: "Market capitalization" type: glossary_term canonical: https://www.moonwire.org/insights/glossary/market-capitalization.html --- # What Is Market Capitalization in Crypto? Price Times Supply, and Its Limits > The last traded price of one coin multiplied by the number of coins in circulation. It measures what the whole supply would be worth at that price - not how much money has been invested in the asset. **Market capitalization** - usually shortened to *market cap* - is the simplest size measure in crypto: the last traded price of one coin multiplied by the number of coins in circulation. ## The arithmetic A token trading at $2.00 with 500 million coins circulating has a market cap of $1 billion. Both inputs move it. The same token at $2.20 is a $1.1 billion market cap; so is the same token still at $2.00 after 50 million new coins are issued. Because supply is the second lever, three figures are usually quoted together: - **Circulating supply** - coins available and tradable now. - **Total supply** - coins already issued, including those locked or reserved. - **Fully diluted valuation (FDV)** - price multiplied by the maximum supply that will ever exist. A project with most of its tokens still vesting can show a modest market cap beside a much larger FDV. ## What it is not Market cap is not the amount of money invested in an asset, and not an amount that could be withdrawn from it. It values every unit at the price the most recent unit traded at, and that trade may have been tiny. A thinly traded token can carry a large headline market cap on very little genuine demand, and disposing of a meaningful share of the supply would not realise anything close to the quoted number. Ranking tables built from it compare sizes, not commitment. ## Related terms For treasury companies that hold crypto, market cap is one half of [mNAV](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/glossary/mnav.md) - the company's market capitalisation measured against the net asset value of the coins it holds. Dominance figures, such as Bitcoin's share of total crypto market cap, are ratios of these same numbers. ## In MoonWire analysis We report market cap as a size and ranking measure, and say which supply definition a cited figure uses when sources disagree. Our explainer on [mNAV below 1](/insights/mnav-below-1-explained.html) works through a case where three published versions of the same ratio disagreed precisely because they used different denominators. A rising market cap is described as a change in size, not as a signal. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: Market capitalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_capitalization) ## Where this appears in MoonWire analysis - [mNAV Below 1 Explained: How to Calculate It, and Why Three Versions Disagree](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/mnav-below-1-explained.md) — Sep 12, 2026 - [Tokenized Stocks vs Tokenized Equities vs RWAs: What Actually Shipped in 2026](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/tokenized-stocks-vs-tokenized-equities-vs-rwas.md) — Sep 12, 2026 - [Crypto Venues Listed Stock Products All Week. The SEC Scheduled a Roundtable.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/week-in-review-2026-09-01.md) — Sep 1, 2026 - [Three Bitcoin Reads Waited on a Level. The Conviction Was in Fee Revenue.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-08-25.md) — Aug 25, 2026 - [The News Ran Exploits and CPI. Tradermayne's Feed Ran Leverage Tiers.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/source-spotlight-tradermayne-2026-08-18.md) — Aug 18, 2026 - [Source Spotlight - CrediBULL Crypto, Week of July 28: A Week About Liquidity, Just Not the Central Bank Kind](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/source-spotlight-credibull-2026-08-03.md) — Aug 4, 2026 - [Market Pulse - July 28: Two Tokens Offered Their Holders Equity. The Same Day, Wall Street Listed Two New Ways to Own Tokens.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-07-28.md) — Jul 28, 2026 - [Choppy holds, and the model's strongest read is a small-cap yield token](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/prognosis-daily-2026-07-26.md) — Jul 25, 2026 - [State of the Market - June 2026: Crypto Didn't Lose to Tight Money. It Lost an Auction for Easy Money.](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/state-of-market-2026-06.md) — Jul 16, 2026 - [Breaking Brief — July 13: An Exchange Died of Compliance, and Washington Repriced the Cost of Carrying Crypto](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/compliance-becomes-cost-of-carrying-crypto.md) — Jul 14, 2026 - [Market Pulse — July 4: Ethereum Reclaimed the Alt Spotlight as a Builder's Story, Not a Buyer's](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-07-04.md) — Jul 4, 2026 - [Market Pulse - July 3: Bitcoin Took the Headlines, Solana and the Alts Took the Lead](https://www.moonwire.org/insights/market-pulse-2026-07-03.md) — Jul 3, 2026 --- *MoonWire surfaces and summarizes public crypto news.* **General information only — not financial advice.** MoonWire Ltd. is not licensed by ASIC and holds no AFSL. 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