Circulating Supply
Float · Tokens in circulation · Circ. supply
The number of a coin's tokens actually out in the market and free to trade right now; market capitalization is calculated from it.
Simple explanation
Background: Koreans call it 유통량. Korea's exchanges treat a project's supply plan as a core listing issue: a supply plan that goes undisclosed or keeps changing without good reason can keep a coin off the market or get it delisted.
A coin has several "supply" figures. Maximum supply is the most coins that can ever exist (21 million for bitcoin); total supply is the coins created so far minus those burned; circulating supply is the part of that now out in the market for anyone to buy and sell. Tokens locked up for the team, foundation or early investors, and reserves a foundation keeps, count in total supply but not in circulating supply, because they cannot reach the market yet.
Circulating supply matters because price and market cap are both tied to it. Market cap is price × circulating supply, while price × total supply (or maximum supply, depending on the data provider) gives the fully diluted valuation (FDV), the value if every token were out. The lower the circulating ratio (circulating ÷ total supply), the more tokens are still to come, and if demand stays the same, each release tends to weigh on the price. So look at today's circulating supply and the release plan, not just the price or market cap.
It is a harder number to pin down than it looks. A blockchain shows how many coins each wallet holds, but which wallets belong to the team or foundation, and whether tokens staked or deposited in DeFi count as circulating, are matters of interpretation. Data providers such as CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko check the figures projects supply, and their numbers can differ. When a project's stated figure does not match what moves on-chain, investors end up deciding on wrong information.
Korean exchanges put circulating supply at the heart of listing reviews. The trading-support "best practice" that 20 Korean exchanges and DAXA drew up, in force since July 19, 2024, makes it a disqualifying condition if an issuer fails to disclose material items such as total issuance, the circulating-supply plan or the business plan, or changes them without good reason again and again. Not being able to verify the issuer's main wallets, through which its trading can be monitored, is also disqualifying. Coins already trading are re-reviewed every quarter, and one that falls short can be designated an investment warning and then delisted.
Supply problems have ended a listing before. In October 2022, Korea's won-market exchanges designated one coin an investment warning because the circulating-supply plan its issuer had filed with them did not match the actual supply, and investors had not been told clearly and in time; after hearing the issuer out, they ended trading support that December. The court that rejected the issuer's injunction request found that circulating supply is very important information for investors and that exchanges have no choice but to check it against what issuers submit. Put the other way round, the supply figures an exchange shows also rest on what the project provides.
There are several places to check. Under the best practice, Korean exchanges publish, before trading starts, the original white paper, a Korean-language summary of it, a coin information sheet in a common format and links to the issuer's main disclosure channels, and they review these every quarter. In January 2022, Upbit said its coin information pages would show a three-year circulating-supply schedule submitted by each project team, adding that it does not write these schedules and that some coins may not have one if the team does not submit it. Information from an exchange is not guaranteed to be true either, so check a block explorer and the project's own disclosures as well.
It connects to the kimchi premium too. When supply jumps, newly released coins get moved to exchanges, and if the coin is dearer in Korea, more of them come in to be sold there, which can shrink the premium fast. The "deposit surge" caution alert that Korean exchanges put on coins with a sudden rise in deposits is one signal of this. The other way round, when a supply problem leads to an investment warning and deposits close, only the coins already in Korea can trade, and the premium can blow out.
CoinGaja does not show each coin's circulating supply. "Total market" (전체 시장) in the top bar is the global crypto market cap compiled by a data provider, and the coin list and the Kimchi Premium Index are ranked by Upbit 24-hour trading value, not market cap. Notices of investment warnings or delistings over supply problems can be found under Exchange notices and Listings and delistings, and caution alerts such as deposit surges are listed by type on Listings and delistings.
Example
Coin A: total supply 1 billion, circulating 200 million (circulating ratio 20%), price ₩1,000 (about $0.71)
Market cap = 1,000 × 200 million = ₩200 billion (about $143 million); fully diluted valuation (FDV) = 1,000 × 1 billion = ₩1 trillion (about $714 million), 5 times the market cap
The plan filed with exchanges: 250 million in circulation a year later → actually 400 million → 150 million (+60%) more than planned
The extra 150 million × ₩1,000 = ₩150 billion (about $107 million) → for a coin trading ₩30 billion (about $21 million) a day, that is 5 days of trading value
One data provider leaves a foundation wallet's 50 million out and another counts it → circulating 350 million vs 400 million, market cap ₩350 billion vs ₩400 billion (price held at ₩1,000)
※ Example numbers, for illustration only
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