What is CoinMarketCap

CoinMarketCap (CMC) is the world's most referenced cryptocurrency market data aggregator, providing real-time price data, market capitalization rankings, trading volume, historical charts, and project information for over 20,000 cryptocurrencies and 600+ exchanges. Founded in 2013 by Brandon Chez, CMC was acquired by Binance in April 2020 for a reported $400 million.

WHAT COINMARKETCAP TRACKS

Price: Real-time and historical price data in USD and other currencies, aggregated from multiple exchanges.

Market Capitalization: Price × circulating supply. The primary ranking metric for cryptocurrencies. CMC's global crypto market cap chart is the most commonly cited measure of the overall crypto market size.
Trading Volume: 24-hour trading volume per coin and per exchange indicates liquidity and market interest.
Circulating Supply: The number of tokens currently in circulation (not locked or unreleased). Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV): Price × maximum total supply shows the theoretical valuation if all tokens were in circulation.
Dominance: Bitcoin's percentage of total crypto market cap a key market sentiment indicator.

HOW TO USE COINMARKETCAP FOR RESEARCH

Price and Chart: Check live price, 24h change, 7d chart, and trading volume.
Filters: Sort by market cap, volume, price change, or newly added tokens.
Token Page: Each project page includes official links, tokenomics, historical price charts, exchange listings, contract addresses, and community links. Portfolio Tracker: CMC offers a free portfolio tracker to monitor your holdings.
Watchlist: Save tokens to track without logging in.
Exchange Rankings: CMC ranks exchanges by reported volume and provides liquidity scores.

IMPORTANT CAVEATSCMC

ranks by reported trading volume which can be artificially inflated through wash trading (fake trades). CMC introduced a "Liquidity" score as a more accurate volume metric. Market cap ranking does not indicate project quality or investment merit low-quality projects can have high market caps. Always conduct additional research beyond CMC data when evaluating any cryptocurrency.

Terms in addition to the CoinMarketCap

Blockchain

A blockchain is a subset of a distributed database. The Bitcoin inventors originally prototyped the system in 2008. This modern database is made up of separate blocks that are connected together in a chronological chain. Blockchains may be used to store a wide range of data types. It has mostly been utilized as a public ledger for bitcoin transactions to date. A peer-to-peer network comprised of independent nodes uses a consensus process to ensure the blockchain's security and legitimacy. Each node in the network keeps a public and immutable copy of the data.

2 Factor Authentication (2FA)

2 Factor Authentication is a security measure with two layers. It is used by the majority of cryptocurrency exchanges. To log in, you must provide not only a password, but also a code obtained, for example, from the Google authenticator.

Airdrop

An airdrop is a method of distributing coins. End users can typically obtain coins for free or in exchange for doing a small task, such as subscribing to a newsletter, sending a tweet, or inviting others via a personal affiliate link. Cryptocurrency airdrops — the act of depositing cryptocurrency into public crypto wallets — are utilized as a marketing, liquidity creation, and network bootstrapping technique for many different types of blockchain initiatives.

Altcoin

Altcoin - "alternative coin" - is any kind of digital currency other than Bitcoin. Since the launch of Bitcoin, the world's first digital currency, many altcoins (as well as supporting blockchains) have been created. Altcoin digital currencies share many similarities to Bitcoin, but consistently and have significant differences. There are about 20,000 altcoins, and this number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Altcoins often develop Bitcoin features. Ethereum, currently the most widely used blockchain, supports digital contracts and separate applications where Bitcoin does not. Altcoins are also often created to cater to the needs of different users. The Litecoin blockchain, for example, can process payments quarterly for the duration of Bitcoin.

Cold Storage

Cold storage is the way to store cryptocurrency offline. The word refers to the use of offline wallets that are not connected to the internet. Cold storage is the most secure way to keep cryptocurrencies since an offline currency becomes less likely to be hacked and stolen. Paper wallets, printed renditions of private keys, and offline hardware and software wallets are all examples of cold storage.