What Is Token Supply (Total, Circulating, Max)?
Definition
Token supply refers to how many tokens exist: total supply is all tokens ever created, circulating supply is tokens in public wallets, and max supply is the hard cap that can ever exist.
Understanding supply is fundamental to token valuation. Three supply metrics matter:
- Total Supply — all tokens that have been minted minus any that have been burned. Set during token creation on CoinDevTools.
- Circulating Supply — tokens in public wallets that are freely tradeable. Excludes locked/vested/burned tokens.
- Max Supply — the hard cap of tokens that can EVER exist. If mint authority is revoked, max supply = total supply (permanently fixed).
- Market cap = circulating supply × token price
- If circulating supply is 100M tokens and price is $0.01, market cap = $1M
- Burning tokens reduces circulating supply, which (if demand stays constant) increases price per token
- Bitcoin — 21M max supply (extremely scarce)
- Typical governance token — 10M-100M total supply
- Typical memecoin — 1B-1T total supply (large supply = low per-token price)
When creating a token on CoinDevTools, you set the total supply during creation. Revoking mint authority makes this permanently fixed — the strongest supply signal.
Related Terms
Tokenomics
Tokenomics is the economic design of a cryptocurrency token — covering supply, distribution, utility, incentive mechanisms, and how these factors affect the token's value over time.
Market Cap (Market Capitalization)
Market cap is the total value of all tokens in circulation, calculated as token price multiplied by circulating supply. It's the primary metric for comparing token sizes.
Mint Authority
The mint authority is the wallet address authorized to create new tokens for an SPL token on Solana. Revoking it permanently locks the token supply.
Token Burn
Token burning is the permanent, irreversible destruction of cryptocurrency tokens — reducing the circulating supply and making remaining tokens scarcer.