Bitcoin dominance: what it measures and how to read it
Bitcoin dominance shows Bitcoin's share of the whole crypto market's value, worked out from market caps rather than money invested or trading volume.
Vahe HakobyanEditor-in-chief
Updated Oct 6, 20263 min readFact-checked
On this page
- Market cap is supply times price, not money invested.
- Rising dominance means Bitcoin is outpacing most altcoins.
- Falling dominance means altcoins are gaining relative to Bitcoin.
- Dominance measures market value, not Bitcoin's price direction.
Bitcoin dominance comes out as a percentage, and it changes as prices change. Both sides of the division matter, so Bitcoin's own price is only half of the story.
How is Bitcoin dominance calculated?
Market cap is circulating supply multiplied by the current price, so it is a calculated value and not money held anywhere. To get dominance, divide Bitcoin's market cap by the total crypto market cap of every asset a provider tracks. The result is Bitcoin's share of that total.
How do you read Bitcoin dominance?
A rising number means Bitcoin is outperforming most other cryptocurrencies, or that altcoins are losing value against it. A falling number means altcoins are gaining value relative to Bitcoin overall. Because it is a ratio, dominance can shift even when Bitcoin's price barely moves.
Both sides move at once. When altcoins climb faster in percentage terms than Bitcoin does, their combined value grows more and Bitcoin's share shrinks.
What Bitcoin dominance does not tell you
Dominance does not show trading volume, so a high reading does not mean most trading happens in Bitcoin. It does not track money flowing into Bitcoin, and it does not tell you whether Bitcoin's price is rising or falling.
Frequently asked questions
No. Dominance compares market caps rather than trading volume. Another asset can trade more than Bitcoin while Bitcoin's dominance stays high.
Altcoins can rise faster in percentage terms, so their combined value grows more. Bitcoin's share falls even while its price is up.
Yes, usually because they define the total market differently. A provider that tracks more assets reports a different total.
It depends on the provider. Counting stablecoins in the total makes the reported share lower.
