What is a coin marketcap and how is it calculated?

A coin marketcap is calculated by simply taking the circulating supply and multiplying it by the price. The price of a coin should be an average taken from multiple exchanges. Different exchanges may list slightly different prices. For example, exchanges only open to South Korean customers may have prices 10% higher than elsewhere. Recently, tracking websites removed data from exchanges that were exclusive to South Korea. The price of bitcoin on exchanges available to the rest of the world was lower than the comparison websites were showing.

To calculate the market cap of Bitcoin you would take the circulating supply (17.3 million) and multiply by the price ($6575 each). From this we can calculate that the marketcap of bitcoin is $114 billion. The same can be calculated for any other cryptocurrencies. Usually when we refer to a particular coin marketcap we will call it just that. However, if we are going to refer to the entire market cap of cryptocurrencies we just say “marketcap”

There are many websites tracking in depth information and data on the marketcap and of all listed coins, such as volume, historical data etc.

The entire market capitilisation is calculated by adding up the agreed marketcap of all coins and adding them together. Different comparison websites may display slightly different data since coins with extremely low volume, or data derived from inactive exchanges could potentially issue anomalies.

Cryptocurrency market cap compared

The market cap of cryptocurrencies is a little over $200m. If we compare this to a marketcap of something such as gold, the difference is staggering. The gold marketcap is a gargantuan $7.7 trillion. That is a 35 times difference and for bitcoin alone a 70 times difference. Some people call bitcoin digital gold. If there is any belief that bitcoin can be the new gold standard, there is a lot of room to grow. Is what we see just the tip of the iceberg?

What is volume?

Volume means the amount of trading activity there is between a pair of cryptocurrencies or between a cryptocurrency and a fiat currency. If a trade is executed and $5000 worth of a cryptocurrency is bought or sold, the volume of that trade is simply $5000. Just as like with coins, you can compare trade volume of pairs as well as entire exchanges on tracking sites. It can often be used as an indicator of the popularity of a particular coin.

The top 10 coins

A certain amount of pride is taken for people or communities if the coin they support is in the top 10. A coin’s market capitilisation is strongly indicative of how the market values a particular coin. Since tracking and comparing became popular, some coins have held the prestigious top spots for their entire lifespan. Examples would be Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Bitcoin cash, Ripple and Monero. Newcomers such as Neo, EOS, Stellar and Cardano have shown their presence too, alas not always holding that prominent top 10 spot. Did you know that only two coins have held the top 10 since records began? Those would be Bitcoin and Litecoin.

Is a coin’s price indicative of its popularity/success?

When we talk about the “price” of a coin, we simply refer to the price that one unit of the coin costs. It’s a concept that is fairly easy to understand yet is widely misunderstood. The price of one whole unit will depend on its circulating supply as much as its market-cap. If we create a cryptocurrency called coinmarketcap coin that has a circulating supply of 10, and it has any kind of following, we are likely to see a high price. For example, if people are prepared to pay $100,000 per coin (they might only purchase 0.01 of a coin) then it may seem that the coin is “expensive”. In essence, the coin has very little popularity since the market-cap reflects that. The marketcap of coinmarketcap coin would just be a mere $1m. $1m is considered a lot of money in normal terms, but when it represents the entire market capitalisation of a coin, it’s very little.

Ripple on the other hand could be mistakenly considered to be a “cheap” coin. Ripple (XRP) is currently priced at a whopping 53 cents. However, given that there are currently 40 billion in circulation, this would bring this coins’ market cap all the way up to $21 billion (Marketcap = Price x Circulating supply).

Altcoins

Coin comparison websites are very useful tools when finding information on altcoins or new coins that you need to DYOR (do your own research) on. With popular coins like Bitcoin or Ethereum, you can safely assume they are traded everywhere. With new altcoins, it is quite common they are only traded on one exchange- and often an obscure one. You’ll be able to get much more than that too! You can check out their official website, whitepaper, reddit community, twitter, telegram, and much more.

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