[ Definition ]

What is market cap crypto

What is market cap crypto? It's the total value of a coin's circulating supply, calculated by multiplying the current price by the number of coins in circulation. It matters because price alone is misleading; a coin priced at a fraction of a cent can have a huge market cap if billions of units exist, while a coin priced at thousands of dollars might be tiny. For example, Bitcoin trading near $60,000 with about 19.7 million coins circulating gives it a market cap around $1.18 trillion. The natural follow-up: does a bigger market cap mean safer? Generally yes, larger caps tend to be more liquid and less volatile, but market cap can still be skewed by low float or inflated supply, so it's one signal among several, not proof of quality.

Part of the Stack and Story crypto glossary: plain-English definitions of the terms that actually move markets, each with the deeper read one click away.

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Account abstractionAirdropBasis pointsBasis tradeBitcoin dominanceBridged tokenBug bountyCEXChain reorgCircuit breakerCirculating vs Fully Diluted SupplyCold storageCustodial vs non-custodialData availabilityDeFiDepegDEXDusting attackETP (exchange-traded product)FinalityFront-runningFunding rateGas feeHalvingLayer 1 (L1)Layer 2 (L2)Liquid stakingLiquidationLiquidityMarket capitalisationMarket makerMerkle treeMEV (maximal extractable value)MiCANonceNot your keys, not your coinsOn-chainOn-chain vs off-chainOpen interestOracle manipulationPerpetual futuresProof of reservesRealized vs unrealized gainsRehypothecationRestakingRollupSandwich attackSeed phraseSelf-custodySequencerShardingSlashingSlippageSmart contract auditSpot Bitcoin ETFSpot ETFStablecoinStop lossTestnet vs MainnetTimelockToken unlockTokenomicsTotal value locked (TVL)Total value locked (TVL)Vesting cliffWash tradingWhat is a bitcoin node?What is a block explorer?What is a blockchain oracle?What is a cold walletWhat is a crypto bridgeWhat is a crypto custodian?What is a crypto whale?What Is a DAO?What is a governance tokenWhat is a hard forkWhat is a hardware walletWhat is a hot wallet?What is a limit order?What is a liquidity pool?What is a mempoolWhat is a multisig walletWhat is a private key in crypto?What is a rug pull?What is a satoshiWhat is a smart contract?What is an altcoin?What is an order book?What is Bitcoin halvingWhat is HODL?What is impermanent loss?What is KYC crypto? KYC and AML explainedWhat is leverage trading cryptoWhat is proof of stakeWhat is staking crypto?What is yield farming?Wrapped tokenZero-knowledge proof

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