Fully diluted valuation (FDV)
Also called: FDV · fully diluted market cap
Definition
Fully diluted valuation (FDV) is a project's value if all of its tokens that will ever exist were already in circulation, calculated as the current price multiplied by the maximum or total supply.
How fully diluted valuation works
Many tokens launch with only a small share of supply circulating. The rest is reserved for the team, early investors, ecosystem funds or future rewards and is released over months or years. Market cap only counts the circulating part, so it can make a project look smaller than it really is.
FDV shows the size the project would have at today's price once every token is out. The ratio between market cap and FDV tells you how much new supply is still coming. If circulating supply is 15 percent of the total, the remaining 85 percent will enter the market over time, and someone has to buy those tokens for the price to hold.
Data sites calculate FDV with either maximum supply or total supply, and some tokens have no maximum at all, so compare like with like. FDV is not a price target; it is a tool for spotting heavy future dilution.
Example
Suppose a new token trades at 0.50 USDT with 200 million tokens circulating and a maximum supply of 1 billion. Its market cap is 100 million USDT, but its FDV is 500 million USDT. Only 20 percent of the supply is out. If the other 800 million tokens unlock over three years, roughly 22 million tokens enter circulation each month on average, and at today's price that is about 11 million USDT of new supply monthly.
Common mistakes
- Looking only at market cap on a low-float token and missing that FDV is several times larger.
- Treating FDV as a forecast of where the price will go.
- Comparing one project's FDV based on maximum supply with another's based on total supply.
Learn and practise
FAQ
Is a high FDV bad?
Not by itself. A high FDV compared with market cap means a lot of supply is still to come, which can create selling pressure if demand does not keep up.
What is a low float token?
A token where only a small percentage of total supply is circulating. These often have a large gap between market cap and FDV.
Does Bitcoin have an FDV?
Yes. It is the price multiplied by 21 million BTC. Because most bitcoins are already mined, Bitcoin's FDV is close to its market cap.