Definition
Circulating supply is the number of coins or tokens that are available to trade on the market right now. It leaves out units that are locked, still vesting, held in reserve or burned.
How it works
A cryptocurrency usually has three supply figures. Max supply is the most units that can ever exist under the protocol's rules. Total supply is the number created so far minus any that have been burned, meaning permanently destroyed. Circulating supply is the part of the total supply that is actually free to trade: it excludes tokens locked in vesting contracts for teams and early investors, tokens held in treasury or foundation reserves, and tokens that cannot move for other reasons.
Circulating supply is the input used for market cap: market cap = price × circulating supply. It grows when new coins are mined or paid out as rewards, and when locked tokens are released on an unlock schedule. It shrinks when tokens are burned or moved back into locked contracts. Comparing circulating supply with max supply shows how much of the eventual supply is already on the market.
The figure is an estimate, not a protocol rule. Each data provider decides which wallets count as locked or reserved, so the same token can show different circulating supplies on different sites. It helps to read the number alongside the project's published token allocation and unlock schedule.
Example (hypothetical numbers)
Suppose Token X has a max supply of 1,000,000,000 tokens, 800,000,000 have been minted and 50,000,000 have been burned.
Total supply = 800,000,000 − 50,000,000 = 750,000,000.
Of these, 300,000,000 are locked in vesting contracts or held in reserve, so circulating supply = 750,000,000 − 300,000,000 = 450,000,000.
At a price of $0.50, market cap = $0.50 × 450,000,000 = $225,000,000.
The same token has three different supply figures, and only the circulating figure goes into market cap.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up circulating supply with total supply or max supply when calculating market cap.
- Assuming the circulating figure stays fixed, when scheduled unlocks can add large amounts of new supply.
- Treating one data provider's figure as exact, when providers classify locked and reserve wallets differently.
Related calculators
This glossary is for education only and is not investment advice. Examples use hypothetical numbers.