What are circulating, total and maximum supply?

Circulating supply estimates the amount considered available in the public market. Total supply is the issued amount after verified burns. Maximum supply describes the cap allowed by the rules; not every crypto asset has a fixed cap.

Three supply measures count different things

Locked tokens may be included in total supply while excluded from circulation. Becoming unlocked does not mean being sold. Providers may classify treasury holdings, team balances or burns differently, so check the methodology behind similarly labeled figures.

Supply records are dated. Issuance, burns or the release of balances can affect each measure differently. The unit price does not remove these distinctions.

A numerical example

Assume a hypothetical token has a coded cap of 100 million. If 60 million have been issued and 5 million burned, total supply is 55 million. If 15 million of those are considered non-circulating, circulating supply is 40 million. Maximum supply here means the coded cap; a provider's treatment of burns may differ.

A market cap calculation should name its supply measure. Calculations using 40 million and 100 million do not answer the same question.

For calculations that connect supply to unlocks and allocation, see the tokenomics review.