Market Capitalisation
Market capitalisation is the total market value of an asset, calculated by multiplying the current price by the total number of units in circulation. It's the standard metric for assessing relative size in both stocks and crypto.
2 min read · Updated June 2026
For stocks: Market cap = Share price x Total shares outstanding. Companies are categorised as large-cap (above $10B), mid-cap ($2-10B), and small-cap (below $2B). Each tier has different risk and growth characteristics.
For crypto: Market cap = Token price x Circulating supply. A coin at $0.001 isn't "cheap" if there are 1 trillion tokens — that's a $1 billion market cap. A coin at $50,000 may be "small" if only 10,000 tokens exist. Price alone means nothing without supply context.
Market cap helps contextualise whether an asset's price reflects genuine scale or just high unit numbers. It's the first metric to check when evaluating any investment.
In stock investing, market cap-weighted index funds (like the S&P 500) automatically allocate more to larger companies — meaning your investment naturally skews toward the biggest, most established companies.
In crypto, market cap is used to distinguish established projects (Bitcoin, Ethereum) from mid-caps with growth potential and micro-caps with extreme risk.
Richify's AI agents explain market cap in the context of your specific holdings — helping you make informed comparisons between assets of different sizes.
