In plain English
What Circulating supply means
In crypto, circulating supply is the count most commonly used to estimate how many units are actually available in the market. It is an approximation, not a precise on-chain census, because some assets are lost, locked, or held in ways the network cannot fully measure. For market-cap calculations, it is usually the circulating figure, not total supply, that is multiplied by price.
Why it matters
Circulating supply affects market-cap figures, liquidity expectations, and how scarce an asset appears relative to its price. A token with a large locked allocation can look smaller or larger depending on whether you use circulating supply or a broader supply measure.
Example
If a token has 100 million units created, but 40 million are locked in team allocations and 10 million are verifiably burned, its circulating supply may be reported near 50 million. That simplified example assumes the remaining units are freely tradeable.
Quick answers
Common questions
Is circulating supply the same as total supply?+
No. Total supply counts all existing coins or tokens minus verifiable burns, while circulating supply excludes units not considered publicly available for trading.
Does circulating supply always change over time?+
Often yes. It can rise through mining or minting and fall through burns or reclassifications of locked units, so it is time-sensitive.
Sources