Circulating supply is how many tokens are freely tradeable right now. Total supply is all tokens that exist (including locked/vesting ones). Max supply is the maximum that will ever exist (some tokens have no max). These three numbers tell very different stories about a token's scarcity and future dilution. Market cap uses circulating supply; fully diluted valuation uses max supply.
What Is Circulating Supply vs. Total Supply vs. Max Supply?
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The short version
Circulating supply is cash in people's wallets right now. Total supply includes money locked in vaults that will eventually come out. Max supply is the total money that the mint will ever print. A token with 10% circulating (90% locked) looks cheap by market cap but expensive by FDV because most of the supply has not hit the market yet.
How It Works
Definitions: Circulating supply = tokens currently in open market circulation (tradeable on exchanges, in wallets, in DeFi). Total supply = all tokens that exist on-chain right now (circulating + locked in vesting contracts + staked + treasury). Max supply = the absolute maximum tokens that can ever exist (Bitcoin: 21M, ETH: no max). Some tokens have burned supply: total supply can decrease over time. Market Cap = Price x Circulating Supply. Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) = Price x Max Supply. The gap between Market Cap and FDV tells you how much future dilution is coming. Example: Token at $1, 100M circulating, 1B max supply. Market Cap = $100M. FDV = $1B. This means 900M more tokens will enter circulation over time. If the project does not generate 10x more demand, the price must fall to absorb that supply.
Why a "cheap" token is actually expensive
Token ABC: price $0.10, circulating supply 50M, max supply 10B. Market cap: $5M (looks cheap!). FDV: $1B (looks expensive). Only 0.5% of total supply is circulating. Over the next 3 years, 9.95B more tokens will unlock from team vesting, community rewards, and ecosystem grants. For the price to stay at $0.10, the project needs to generate $995M in new demand to absorb all that supply. Compare: Token XYZ: price $50, circulating supply 18M, max supply 21M (Bitcoin-like). Market cap: $900M. FDV: $1.05B. 86% of supply already circulates. Very little future dilution. The "expensive" token (XYZ at $50) is actually better positioned than the "cheap" one (ABC at $0.10) when you account for supply dynamics.
What People Get Wrong
Low price per token means it is cheap
Price per token means nothing without knowing the supply. A token at $0.001 with 1 trillion supply has a $1B market cap. A token at $50,000 with 21M supply (Bitcoin) has a $1T market cap. Compare market caps and FDVs, not unit prices.
Market cap is the full picture of valuation
Market cap ignores locked/unvested supply. FDV includes it. If a token has 10% circulating and 90% locked, the market cap understates the real valuation by 10x. Always check both numbers and the ratio between them.
Tokens with no max supply will inflate forever
ETH has no max supply but net issuance is often negative (more burned than issued) after EIP-1559. "No max supply" means the protocol could issue indefinitely, but governance or burn mechanics can make actual supply growth zero or negative.
Keep Reading
Sources & Further Reading
- CoinGecko
Comprehensive token data including circulating, total, and max supply figures
Questions People Also Ask
- Where do I find these supply numbers?
- CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap list circulating supply, total supply, and max supply for most tokens. For precise on-chain data: check the token contract on Etherscan (totalSupply function). For unlock schedules: TokenUnlocks.app or project documentation.
- What is a healthy circulating/max supply ratio?
- Above 50% is generally healthier (less future dilution). Above 80% is excellent (Bitcoin is at ~94%). Below 20% means massive supply is still locked and will hit the market. This is not an automatic red flag but requires the project to have strong enough demand drivers to absorb the incoming supply.
- Does burning tokens reduce total supply?
- Yes. Burned tokens are sent to an unrecoverable address (0x000...dead). They are removed from total supply in accurate trackers. This permanently reduces supply, making remaining tokens relatively scarcer. ETH's base fee burn reduces total ETH supply with every transaction.