🔍 Total Supply vs Circulating Supply — What’s the Difference?

In crypto, supply matters. It can affect a coin’s price, valuation, and market perception.

But many traders confuse two key metrics: Total Supply and Circulating Supply.

💰 Circulating Supply

This is the number of coins that are currently available in the market and actively trading.

✅ Can be bought, sold, or held

✅ Used in market cap calculations

✅ Reflects real-time supply

Example:

If a project has 10 million tokens in circulation at a price of $1,

🧮 Market Cap = 10M × $1 = $10 million

🏦 Total Supply

This includes all tokens that have been created — even those not yet circulating.

🔒 May include locked, staked, or team-reserved tokens

🕒 Could be released over time (vesting schedules)

📉 Not always available for trading immediately

Example:

If the total supply is 100M tokens but only 10M are circulating,

→ 90M tokens might still enter the market later = potential dilution.

⚖️ Why It Matters

📈 Projects with low circulating supply can look undervalued — but total supply tells the full story.

🧠 Smart investors watch both — especially for inflation risks.

💬 Do you check circulating or total supply before buying a coin?

👇 Let us know how it affects your strategy.