New annual high for the crypto market capitalization

Today, the overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has exceeded 2.750 trillion dollars according to data from TradingView. 

This is the maximum value reached in this 2024.

The capitalization of the crypto market

The market capitalization of the crypto market is nothing more than the sum of the market capitalizations of all the monitored cryptocurrencies. 

It is, however, a purely theoretical figure, obtained by multiplying the price of a single token by the total number of tokens in circulation for each cryptocurrency. 

For example, if a Bitcoin is worth about $82,000, and there are just under 19.8 million Bitcoin in circulation, its market capitalization is about 1.6 trillion dollars. By performing this calculation for all the cryptocurrencies present in the crypto markets and monitored, and summing all the capitalizations, the overall crypto market capitalization is obtained.

During the great speculative bubble of 2021, the maximum peak was reached shortly before mid-November, above 2.9 trillion dollars. 

In March of this year, when Bitcoin reached new highs, the total capitalization of the crypto markets rose above 2.720 trillion, so today’s 2.750 trillion is the annual high but not the all-time high. 

The market cap of Bitcoin

Bitcoin, on the other hand, today not only marked its new all-time high in price, but also in terms of its market capitalization. 

But why then is the crypto market capitalization still below the peak of 2021?

When in November three years ago the price of BTC recorded the then all-time high at about $69,000, its maximum capitalization was about 1.2 trillion dollars. 

Since then, however, not only has the price risen, but the BTC in circulation have also increased, and so already in February of this year, the 1,200 billion mark was surpassed, and in March, the 1,400 billion mark was also surpassed. 

The surpassing of 1.5 trillion dollars occurred on November 6, the day of Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections, and since then it has increased further to over 1.6 trillion today. 

The market capitalization of altcoins

However, to counterbalance the records of Bitcoin, there is Ethereum, which is still far from the peaks of 2021. 

The all-time high of ETH is still the nearly $4,900 from November 2021, which led it to also record the all-time high of its market capitalization at almost 560 billion dollars. 

In 2024 the price of Ethereum rose to about $4,100, but its market capitalization did not rise above 470 billion dollars. It should also be noted that for about two years the number of ETH in circulation has not increased anymore.

So already in March of this year, the market capitalization of Ethereum was 90 billion dollars lower than the peak of November 2021, while that of Bitcoin was about 200 billion higher. 

However, regarding altcoins, there are very few that have recorded highs in March of this year, like Bitcoin, while the vast majority of the others have had a price trend more similar to that of Ethereum. 

And so the overall market capitalization of crypto in March was still 180 billion below the all-time high of 2021. 

Even today, with Bitcoin’s market cap exceeding the 2021 peak by as much as 400 billion dollars, Ethereum’s is still 180 billion lower, and this applies to many altcoins as well. 

So despite a record capitalization for Bitcoin, that of the crypto market is not yet at historical highs. 

The Total3

These data, however, also take into account the market capitalizations of stablecoins, which have nothing to do with their prices, which are stable, but only with the number of tokens in circulation. 

To better analyze the trend of the true capitalization of the crypto market, TradingView has created an index called Total3, which calculates the overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies excluding Bitcoin, Ethereum, and especially stablecoins.

The Total3 therefore measures the trend over time of the market capitalization of only altcoins, excluding Ethereum. 

The all-time high of Total3 is obviously still that of November 2021, when it exceeded 1.130 billion dollars. 

Note that in March of this year, Total3 did not even manage to surpass 790 billion dollars, and it is precisely because of these 340 billion less that the new all-time high of the overall crypto market capitalization was not achieved. 

In fact, today it is even below 740 billion, a level 50 billion lower even than that of March. 

Therefore, there are many more billions missing from the market capitalization of altcoins compared to those missing from Ethereum, and only Bitcoin and other rare cryptocurrencies are currently at all-time highs regarding market cap.

The stablecoin

A totally different discussion is the one concerning the market capitalization of stablecoin.

Despite this, even stablecoins are not at all-time highs. 

It should be noted, however, that the all-time high of the market cap of stablecoins was reached not in November 2021, but in May 2022 before the implosion of UST (the stablecoin of Terra/Luna).

In November 2021, 150 billion dollars were reached, but in May 2022, they almost touched 190. 

In April of this year, the overall market capitalization of stablecoins had risen to about 160 billion, and today it is close to 180 billion, about 10 billion less than the all-time high of 2022.