What is FDV in crypto?

FDV in crypto stands for fully diluted valuation, the value a token would have at today's price if every token that will ever exist were already in circulation. It is a "what if" figure, not money anyone has invested. Traders use it mainly to see how much future supply sits behind a token's current market cap.

How is FDV calculated in crypto?

The basic formula is price multiplied by a supply figure. The catch is which supply. CoinMarketCap calculates FDV as price times max supply, its best estimate of the most coins that will ever exist, minus coins provably burned. CoinGecko's learning guide gives the formula as price times total supply, meaning tokens already created, including locked ones.

When a token has no maximum supply, the figure becomes fuzzy. CoinGecko's guide notes some tokens show no FDV for that reason, and in its research it treated FDV as equal to market cap for such coins. Because methods differ, it is worth checking which supply number a site uses before comparing tokens.

What is the difference between FDV and market cap?

Market cap uses circulating supply, the coins people can trade now. FDV adds the coins that are locked, unreleased or not yet created. CoinMarketCap lists four related measures, from largest to smallest: FDV, minted market cap, unlocked market cap and circulating market cap. It ranks coins by the last one.

CoinGecko has added a middle measure called outstanding token value. It counts tokens with a plan to enter circulation but leaves out treasury or foundation reserves with no release plan, so it usually falls between market cap and FDV.

What does the FDV ratio mean?

The market cap to FDV ratio divides market cap by FDV. A ratio near 1 means almost all supply is already circulating. A ratio near 0 means most tokens have not reached the market yet, usually because they are held by insiders under a vesting schedule.

CoinGecko's research calls tokens with a ratio below 0.5 "low float." In a May 2024 snapshot of the top 300 coins, it found about 21% were low float, and most of those had launched within the previous four years. The average ratio across the group was 0.73.

Is there a good FDV in crypto?

There is no standard number that counts as good or bad. FDV depends on the token's design, and a high figure can simply reflect a large planned supply. What the figure shows is dilution: how much new supply could reach the market over time.

FDV also has limits. CoinGecko points out that it ignores demand, assumes today's price holds as supply grows, and shifts as tokens are minted, staked or burned. It is one input among many when you research a crypto project, alongside the release schedule described in tokenomics. Data sites update their methods, so these details reflect practice as of October 2026.