What is circulating supply in crypto?
Circulating supply is the number of coins or tokens of a cryptocurrency that are publicly available and trading in the market right now. It leaves out tokens that are locked, held in reserve, still vesting for the team, not yet mined, or permanently burned. You need it to work out a coin’s market cap, and the gap between circulating supply and total supply tells you how much new selling pressure could still come.
What is circulating supply in crypto?
Circulating supply in crypto refers to how many coins are actually out in the open market, held by the public and free to trade. It’s the crypto version of a company’s outstanding shares that trade on the stock market, often called the free float.
Price trackers show it on every coin page. When a token has, say, 1 billion tokens in existence but only 300 million are tradable, its circulating supply is 300 million. The rest excludes coins that are locked in smart contracts, reserved for the project’s team and investors, kept in a treasury, or not yet created.
Circulating supply changes over time. New coins enter circulation through mining, staking rewards and token unlocks, and coins leave it when they are permanently burned.
Circulating supply vs total supply vs max supply
The three supply metrics measure different things, and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes in crypto. Here’s how circulating supply compares with total supply and max supply:
| Supply metric | What it counts | Example question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Circulating supply | Coins available to trade now | How much is on the market today? |
| Total supply | All coins created so far, minus burned coins, including locked tokens | How many exist, tradable or not? |
| Max supply | The maximum number that will ever exist, if there is a hard cap | Is there a limit? |
Total supply
Total supply counts every token that has been created and not destroyed, whether it’s tradable or not. Tokens held by the founding team under vesting schedules, ecosystem funds and treasury reserves are part of total supply but not circulating supply.
Max supply
Max supply is the maximum number of coins that can ever exist. Bitcoin has a fixed supply cap of 21 million, which is why some people call it digital gold. Other coins have no maximum supply at all, and some projects can change their cap by governance vote.
How circulating supply affects market cap
Circulating supply drives market cap through a basic formula: market cap = current price × circulating supply. Market capitalization is the standard way to compare the size of crypto assets, because the price per coin on its own tells you very little.
A worked example shows why:
| Coin A | Coin B | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | €0.10 | €100 |
| Circulating supply | 10 billion | 1 million |
| Market cap | €1 billion | €100 million |
Coin A looks “cheap” at €0.10, but its market cap is ten times larger than Coin B’s. A low price per coin usually just means a high supply. For Coin A to reach €1 per token, its market cap would have to grow to €10 billion. So when people ask whether a coin can “reach €1”, check the market cap that price would imply first.
Fully diluted valuation
Fully diluted valuation (FDV) uses the max or total supply instead: FDV = price × max supply. If a token trades at €0.10 with 100 million tokens in circulation and a max supply of 500 million, its market cap is €10 million but its FDV is €50 million. The gap shows how much supply is still to come. Read more about fully diluted valuation and market cap.
Why circulating supply matters for your investment decisions
Circulating supply matters because future supply changes can move prices as much as news or demand. If supply grows faster than market demand, the price per token tends to fall; if supply shrinks or stays fixed while demand grows, prices tend to rise. None of this is a rule, but it’s a key metric for informed decisions.
Token unlocks and locked supply
Token unlocks are moments when locked tokens, often held by early investors or the project’s team, become free to sell. A token with a small circulating supply and a large locked supply can face heavy selling when those tokens unlock. Projects usually publish vesting schedules, and price trackers often show upcoming unlocks.
Say you buy €1,000 of a token at €0.10, so you hold 10,000 tokens. If the circulating supply doubles through unlocks and demand stays the same, the market cap stays roughly flat while the number of tokens doubles. In a simple model, the price per token halves, and your holding is worth about €500.
Burned coins and inflation rate
Some projects use a burn mechanism to remove tokens from circulation forever, for example by burning part of the fees. Others keep issuing new coins as rewards, which creates an annual inflation rate. A lower circulating supply growth rate means less dilution for existing holders, but a fixed or shrinking supply doesn’t guarantee long term value on its own.
Circulating supply of Bitcoin, Ether and XRP
Bitcoin, Ether and XRP show three very different supply models:
- Bitcoin. Max supply of 21 million, set in the code. Bitcoin’s circulating supply is already above 19 million, and new coins are released ever more slowly after each halving. Lost coins still count as circulating, even though nobody can use them.
- Ether. No max supply. New ETH goes to validators, while part of every transaction fee is burned, so the supply can grow or shrink.
- XRP. 100 billion tokens were created at launch, so total and max supply are fixed, but the circulating supply is lower because a large share has been held back and released over time.
How to check a coin’s circulating supply
You can check a coin’s circulating supply on price trackers, block explorers and the project’s own documents. Supply data can differ between sources, because each one decides which wallets to count as locked.
In the EU, a useful extra source is the crypto-asset white paper. Under MiCA, most tokens offered to the public need one, describing the project, the rights attached to the token and its main risks. Compare the supply figures there with what trackers show, and be careful with tokens where most of the entire supply sits with insiders. If the numbers don’t add up, that’s a red flag; see do your own research and our explainer on tokenomics.
The bottom line
Circulating supply tells you how many coins are actually trading today, and with the price it gives you the market cap. Always compare it with total and max supply: the bigger the gap, the more new tokens could hit the market, and the more caution you need before buying.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between circulating supply and total supply?
Circulating supply counts only the coins available to trade now. Total supply counts every coin that has been created and not burned, including tokens that are locked, held in reserve or still vesting for the team.
Does BTC have a max supply?
Yes. Bitcoin's max supply is 21 million coins, set in its software. More than 19 million have already been mined, and the rest will be released ever more slowly until about 2140.
Is there a max supply of ETH?
No. Ether has no fixed maximum supply. New ETH is issued to validators, while part of every transaction fee is permanently burned, so the supply can rise or fall depending on how busy the network is.
What is XRP's max supply?
XRP's maximum supply is 100 billion tokens, all created when the network launched. Its circulating supply is lower, because a large share has been held by Ripple, much of it in escrow, and released over time.
Is high circulating supply good for crypto?
A high circulating supply isn't good or bad on its own. It usually means a lower price per coin, but what matters is market cap, demand and how much new supply is still to come.