(1) Price (Market Pair)
The price for each individual market pair is calculated by taking the unconverted price reported directly from the exchange and converting it to USD using CoinMarketCap’s existing reference prices. Let’s take LTC/BTC market as an example:
Let (E) be the price of LTC/BTC reported directly from the exchange.
Let (C) be the last known reference price of BTC from CoinMarketCap in USD.
Let (D) be the derived price reported on CoinMarketCap for the market pair.
For this example, let (E) = 0.01 BTC / 1 LTC and let (C) = 10,000 USD / 1 BTC.
D = E * C
D = (0.01 BTC / 1 LTC) * (10,000 USD / 1 BTC) = 100 USD / 1 LTC
Therefore, the derived price for LTC/BTC on this specific market pair is $100 USD.
Note: Any conversion into other fiat currencies (for example, EUR) are converted from the USD price based on current FX rates provided by openexchangerates.org.
(2) Volume (Market Pair)
The volume for each market pair is calculated by taking the 24h volume reported directly from the exchange in quote units, and converting it to USD using CoinMarketCap’s existing reference prices. Let’s take LTC/BTC market as an example:
Let (E) be the 24h volume of LTC/BTC reported directly from the exchange in quote units.
Let (C) be the last known reference price of BTC from CoinMarketCap in USD.
Let (D) be the derived volume reported on CoinMarketCap for the market.
For this example, let (E) = 100 BTC and let (C) = 10,000 USD / 1 BTC.
D = E * C
D = (100 BTC * 10,000 USD / 1 BTC) = 1,000,000 USD
Therefore, the derived volume for LTC/BTC on this specific market pair is $1,000,000 USD.
Note: Any conversion into other fiat currencies (for example, EUR) are converted from the USD volume based on current FX rates.
(3) Price (Cryptoasset)
The price of any cryptoasset is a volume weighted average of market pair prices (1) for the cryptoasset. The higher percentage of volume contributed from the pair, the more influence it has on the average price. The rationale for using a weighted average is because in general, markets with higher volume have higher liquidity and are less prone to price fluctuations. Some prices are excluded from the average, denoted by an asterisk (*) on the markets tab if the price does not seem indicative of a free market price; for example, when an exchange disables withdrawals or deposits, or regulatory conditions make it impossible for anyone else outside of a certain geographical region to buy coins. Some prices are also excluded when our algorithms detect that the reported price is a significant outlier when compared to other market pairs for the same cryptoasset, denoted by three asterisks (***) on the markets tab.
(4) Volume (Cryptoasset)
The volume of any cryptoasset is the total spot trading volume reported by all exchanges over the last 24 hours for that cryptoasset. Some market pairs are excluded from the sum, denoted by two asterisks (**) on the markets tab, if the exchange does not enforce a trading fee or otherwise offers significant incentives to trade on the market pair. Market pairs with these characteristics are rather susceptible to wash trading, resulting in artificially inflated reported volumes. From our experience, we have found that it is better to exclude these markets to give a better representation of relative trading volumes for the crypto market.
(5) Volume (Exchange)
The volume of any exchange is the sum of all market pair volume (2) reported from the exchange over the last 24 hours.
- Adjusted Volume - Volume from spot markets excluding markets with no fees and transaction mining
- Reported Volume - Volume from all spot markets
Note: Market pairs that have been excluded from the cryptoasset volume calculation (4) are not excluded in the total exchange volume calculation (5). For example, when an exchange begins fee rebates on a specific pair, the pair will be excluded from the volume calculation in (4) but will not be excluded from its total exchange volume (5).
(6) Volume (Aggregate)
The total volume for all cryptoassets (found on the top of the site) is the sum of all individual cryptoasset volumes over the last 24 hours (4).
Note: Any market pairs with a cryptoasset on both sides of the market pair (for example, LTC/BTC) are essentially double-counted in this metric.
(7) Circulating Supply (Cryptoasset)
- Circulating Supply is the best approximation of the number of assets that are circulating in the market and in the general public's hands. We have found that Circulating Supply is a much better metric than Total Supply for determining the market capitalization. The method of using the Circulating Supply is analogous to the method of using public float to determine the market capitalization of companies in traditional investing.
- Assets that are locked (via smart contracts or legal contracts), allocated to the team or private investors, or not able to be sold on the public market, cannot affect the price and thus should not be allowed to affect the market capitalization as well. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Private sale - Assets that were earmarked for a subset of investors and not available to the public through open bidding/balloting.
- Ecosystem/Bounty/Marketing/Operations/Airdrops - Assets that have been earmarked for activities to grow the project’s ecosystem. For example, airdropped tokens are generally excluded from circulating supply unless the project is able to furnish evidence that there was active demand for the asset (e.g. users had registered/KYCed for the airdrop).
- Masternodes - Assets that have been ‘staked’ in masternodes are generally excluded. Factors such as masternode distribution and lock-up periods are also taken into consideration.
- Team/Foundation/Treasury/Escrow - Assets held by project members or major ecosystem participants. Such holdings can constitute a significant percentage of the supply.
- Circulating Supply is verified by our team through communication with the project’s team. We ask for details including but not limited to the initial distribution, private allocations, locked addresses, team-controlled addresses, and addresses containing portions of the supply allocated for future use.
- We examine the project’s blockchain and distribution table to determine the best approximation of what is freely circulating in the market based on the information provided.
- Once the information is verified, circulating supply is usually updated in real time by using relevant block explorer APIs.
- It is in every project’s interest to provide accurate and well-documented information in good faith.
- Projects that attempt to manipulate or artificially inflate their supply figures will be permanently disqualified from the rankings.
(8) Market Capitalization (Cryptoasset)
Market capitalization of the cryptoasset is calculated by multiplying the existing reference price of the cryptoasset (3) by the current circulating supply (7). Let’s take the market capitalization of Bitcoin as an example:
Let (C) be the last known reference price of Bitcoin from CoinMarketCap in USD.
Let (S) be the current circulating supply of Bitcoin.
Let (D) be the derived market capitalization for Bitcoin.
For this example, let (C) = 10,000 USD / 1 BTC and let (S) = 17,000,000 BTC.
D = C * S
D = 10,000 USD / 1 BTC * 17,000,000 BTC = 170,000,000,000 USD
Therefore, the derived market capitalization for Bitcoin is $170,000,000,000 USD.
(9) Market Capitalization (Aggregate)
The total market capitalization for all cryptoassets (found on the top of the site as “Market Cap”) is the sum of all individual cryptoasset market capitalizations that meet the requirements outlined in section (10) below.
(10) Cryptoasset Rank
Due to the launch of the CoinMarketCap indices (administered by Solactive, which is fully compliant with IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks), a project’s eligibility for a Top 200 Cryptoasset Rank will now be determined by market capitalization (8) and the following factors:
- Our ability to verify the project’s supply information with no incongruities
- Strengths in a number of areas of Listings Review Criteria's Section C (Evaluation Framework) below
- Significant liquidity/trading activity with normal bid-ask spreads across sufficient sources of market data
- Absence of significant price discrepancies across CMC-supported exchanges
- The asset is traded on at least three non-decentralized exchanges that possess a number of the following attributes:
- Publishes granular API endpoints
- Active product development and communication from the team
- Active/engaged community of a considerable size
- Accredited/Audited by a credible 3rd party
- DATA Partner
- Regulated/Licensed
The aforementioned factors are intended to provide general guidance without disclosing internal thresholds so as to prevent projects from ‘gaming’ or manipulating the rankings. Further, the sheer variety of monetary and accounting models used by projects adds complexity to the process of verification, which means that there will be occasions where CoinMarketCap will have to exercise its discretion in determining a project’s circulating supply and/or eligibility for a Top 200 ranking (e.g. stablecoins, privacy coins, sidechains, and exchange tokens). Consequently, maximum rank eligibility of a project will fall under one of three categories:
- Top 200 Rank: The project must minimally have a CMC-verified market capitalization and fulfill the requirements outlined in 10.1 - 10.5.
- Top 201 Rank and beyond: The project must minimally have a CMC-verified market capitalization but does not need to fulfill the requirements in 10.1 - 10.5.
- Unranked: Cryptoassets without a CMC-verified market capitalization sorted by 24h trading volume.
(11) Liquidity (Market Pair)
Due to volume inflation by several cryptocurrency exchanges, we have decided to rethink the use of volume as the default metric for ranking market pairs and exchanges. Instead, we have introduced a new metric to track and measure what matters most to traders - Liquidity.
The Liquidity metric by CoinMarketCap takes into account a wider range of key variables from the order book, such as:
- The distance of the order from the mid-price
- The size of the order
- The relative liquidity of the market pair in question
The weightage for each variable depends on the extent of its role in determining liquidity.
Orders become more relevant the closer they are to the mid-price. The Liquidity metric takes that into account by giving orders closer to the mid-price a heavier weight, and discounts orders that are further away.
In addition, the Liquidity metric has been designed to measure the liquidity of the market in an adaptive manner. Liquidity between different markets and cryptoassets can differ a lot - the metric takes this into account and the algorithm adapts to this difference to return the fairest result possible. This means that the more liquid the market pair is, the more aggressively orders get discounted as they move further from mid-price.
Lastly, the reported Liquidity is calculated by polling the market-pair at random intervals over a 24-hour period and averaging the result. Order-book depth of any given market changes constantly due to immediate market conditions. In order to make Liquidity fair with respect to differences in global time zones, a rolling average over a 24-hour period is implemented.
The algorithm returns a number that is indicative of the average liquidity of any given market pair over a 24 hour period. This number can be used to compare liquidity between different market pairs, regardless of Base or Quote asset. The higher the result, the better the liquidity of the market pair.
(12) Liquidity (Exchanges)
The Liquidity of any exchange is the sum of all market pairs’ Liquidity (11) on the exchange. For more details on what liquidity is and how the Liquidity metric works, please click here.
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