Definition

Total supply, circulating supply, and max supply are all related to the amount of a specific cryptocurrency that is in circulation. However, there are important differences between these three concepts:

Max supply: Max supply refers to the maximum amount of a specific cryptocurrency that will ever exist. This is typically determined by the coin's or token's protocol, and is often set at the time of the coin's creation. For example, Bitcoin has a max supply of 21 million coins.
Circulating supply: Circulating supply refers to the total amount of a specific cryptocurrency that is currently in circulation and available to the public for trading or transactions. This includes all coins or tokens that have been issued or mined, minus any coins or tokens that have been burned, destroyed, or locked.
Total supply: Total supply refers to the maximum amount of a specific cryptocurrency that can exist at any given time. This can be the same as the max supply, but may also be a lower number, depending on the rules set by the coin's or token's protocol. For example, a cryptocurrency may have a max supply of 1 billion coins, but a total supply of 500 million, indicating that only 500 million coins will ever be in circulation at one time.

Details

The supply data available in Amberdata's API not only includes the total supply, circulating supply and max supply, but also the total number of coins or tokens that have been minted, burned or transferred.

API Endpoints

/market/metrics/{asset}/supply/latest
/market/metrics/{asset}/supply/historical
/tokens/{hash}/supplies/latest
/tokens/{hash}/supplies/historical

Availability

Our Blockchain endpoints found throughout the different On-Chain namespaces are available via REST API, WebSockets or JSON RPC. The list of supported Blockchain networks can be found in the API Documentation here.

Since we maintain our own nodes, we have every event from the genesis block forward which enables us to provide complete historical datasets for most chains we support.

Frequently Asked Questions

How would the value or price of an asset be affected by supply?

If the circulating supply of an asset is low relative to the total supply or max supply, and demand for the cryptocurrency is high, the price of the cryptocurrency may increase as buyers compete for a limited number of available coins or tokens. On the other hand, if the total supply or max supply is high relative to the circulating supply, and demand for the cryptocurrency is low, the price of the cryptocurrency may decrease as sellers try to unload their coins or tokens.

Can the supply of an asset be fixed?

Yes, it certainly can be and in this case, if demand for that token begins to increase, the price of the token is likely to rise as well.

Why is supply data important to keep track of and analyze?

The supply data of an asset is an important metric for understanding the health and performance of a coin or token on a blockchain network, and is an essential component of blockchain analytics and market research.