Crypto market cap can be divided into three categories:
- Large-cap cryptocurrencies (>$10 billion)
- Mid-cap Cryptocurrencies ($1 billion – $10 billion)
- Small-cap cryptocurrencies ($1 billion).
As a financial metric, market cap allows you to compare the total circulating value of one cryptocurrency with another. Large cap cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have a market cap of over $10 billion. They typically consist of protocols that have demonstrated track records, and have a vibrant ecosystem of developers maintaining and enhancing the protocol, as well as building new projects on top of them.
While market cap is a simple and intuitive comparison metric, it is not a perfect point of comparison. Some cryptocurrency projects may appear to have inflated market cap through price swings and the tokenomics of their supply. As such, it is best to use this metric as a reference alongside other metrics such as trading volume, liquidity, fully diluted valuation, and fundamentals during your research process.