Circulating Supply
The number of tokens currently in circulation and tradeable on the open market. Differs from total supply (which includes locked or unvested tokens) and max supply (the upper limit, if there is one).
Also known as: circ supply, free float
Circulating supply is the only supply number that affects market price in the short term. It excludes tokens still locked in vesting contracts, allocated to a foundation but not yet released, set aside for ecosystem grants that haven’t been distributed, or otherwise outside the day-to-day market. When you calculate market cap, you multiply price by circulating supply, not total supply. When you calculate dilution risk, you compare circulating supply to total or fully diluted supply.
The gap between circulating and total supply is usually the source of supply overhang concerns. A project with 30% circulating and 70% locked has a lot of unvested tokens about to enter the market over the coming months and years. Every unlock event adds to circulating supply, which dilutes existing holders unless demand grows in step. Reading “circulating supply 30% of total” is shorthand for “the supply about to hit this market is more than double what’s already trading.”
The honest version of supply analysis tracks the trajectory, not just the snapshot. A project with 30% circulating today and a clear schedule that brings it to 100% over five years is structurally different from one with 30% circulating and an opaque vesting situation where insiders could dump at any moment. NEAR’s “99.99% circulating” status is meaningful precisely because all the unlock overhang is now behind it. Bittensor’s circulating supply growth is fully predictable from its halving schedule.
For OYM project reviews, circulating supply matters because it’s the denominator in every dilution calculation. The OYM Returns Score’s Supply Dynamics dimension captures both current circulating share and the trajectory of how it changes over time. A project whose circulating supply is rapidly growing toward total supply has structural sell pressure that even good fundamentals can struggle to overcome.