Market cap (market capitalization)

Market capitalization is the standard way to rank cryptocurrencies. A coin trading at $2 with 500 million units in circulation has a market cap of $1 billion, regardless of whether its price per unit looks cheap or expensive. Bitcoin has held the largest market cap since it was created, followed by Ether.

Investors often group assets into large, mid and small caps, since smaller assets tend to be more volatile and easier to move. The total crypto market cap, the sum of all assets, is a common gauge of the sector's overall size and of moves between bull and bear markets.

Market cap does not mean that amount of money has been invested or could be withdrawn. It reflects the last traded price applied to every coin, so a token with thin liquidity can show a large market cap that would collapse if holders tried to sell. It also ignores tokens not yet in circulation, which fully diluted valuation captures.