Key Metrics Cheatsheet

Quickly find which metrics are available on Token Terminal. You will also find brief What, How, Why explanations of each metric.

Market Data

Data relating to the protocol's governance token

Metric nameWhat is this metric?How is it calculated?
Fully diluted market capitalizationValuation of the protocol based on the maximum supply of its governance tokenMaximum supply * token price
Circulating market capitalizationValuation of the protocol based on the circulating supply of its governance tokenCirculating supply * token price
Token trading volumeTrading volume of the protocol's governance token across CEXs and DEXsTrading volume on supported CEXs & DEXs, sourced from Coingecko
TokenholdersNumber of unique governance tokenholdersNumber of unique addresses with a governance token balance greater than 0, sourced from onchain data
Circulating supplyNumber of tokens in circulationTotal token supply - all tokens that are held by insiders. We consider tokens held by the team, treasury, early investors and foundations as non-circulating
Maximum supplyMaximum amount of tokens that will ever existCalculated either by looking at the total onchain supply or referring to the projects' documentation

GMV data

Data relating to the usage of the protocol

Metric nameWhat is this metric?How is it calculated?
Total value lockedUser deposits to the protocol's smart contracts (these assets are not owned by the protocol)Value of funds held across a protocol's smart contracts
Trading volumeTrading volume on a DEX / NFT marketplaceValue of tokens being exchanged at a DEX / NFT marketplace
Active loansOutstanding loans on a lending protocolValue of funds owed by borrowers to lenders
Assets stakedUser deposits staked by a liquid staking protocolValue of funds staked across the protocol's smart contracts
Transfer volumeTokens transferred through a cross-chain bridging protocolValue of tokens transferred through a cross-chain bridge
Outstanding supplyThe USD value of stablecoins outstandingWe track all stablecoin mints and burns
Net depositsNet deposits to a protocolUser deposits - user withdrawal

Financial data

Data relating to the usage of the protocol

Metric nameWhat is this metric?How is it calculated?
FeesFees paid by end usersValue of the aggregate fees paid by end users, sourced from onchain data
Supply-side feesPortion of fees paid to service providersValue of the fees paid to service providers (LPs, lenders, creators, etc.), sourced from onchain data
RevenuePortion of fees kept by the protocol (and its tokenholders)Value of the fees kept by the protocol (and tokenholders), sourced from onchain data
ExpensesTotal onchain expenses paid by the protocol (currently includes only token incentives for most protocols)Sum of all expenses paid by the protocol, sourced from onchain data
Cost of revenueAll onchain expenses directly related to the revenue generating service or product.Sum of all expenses directly related to the revenue-generating service/product. This could include L1 settlement costs for L2s or fee splits with service providers (e.g., node operators for a liquid staking protocol). This metric excludes token incentives (rewards) and operating expenses.
Operating expensesAll onchain expenses paid by the protocol, excluding token incentivesSum of all expenses related to the operations of the protocol. This can include core team salaries, cost of goods sold, marketing expenses & partnership costs, sourced from onchain data. This metric excludes token incentives (rewards)
Token incentivesGovernance tokens distributed to users (token-based compensation)Value of a protocol’s governance tokens that have been claimed by users, sourced from onchain data
Gross profitGross profit is a protocol’s revenue minus its cost of revenue.Revenue - Cost of revenue, sourced from onchain data.
EarningsNet income of a protocol (excl. off-chain operating expenses).Revenue - expenses, sourced from onchain data.

Valuation multiples

Financial metrics used to assess the relative valuation of a protocol.

Metric nameWhat is this metric?How is it calculated?
P/F ratio (fully diluted)Valuation multiple, based on the fees paid by end usersFully diluted market capitalization / annualized fees
P/F ratio (circulating)Valuation multiple, based on the fees paid by end usersCirculating market capitalization / annualized fees
P/S ratio (fully diluted)Valuation multiple, based on the revenue earned by the protocolFully diluted market capitalization / annualized revenue
P/S ratio (circulating)Valuation multiple, based on the revenue earned by the protocolCirculating market capitalization / annualized revenue

Treasury data

Protocol treasury related data

Metric nameWhat is this metric?How is it calculated?
TreasuryAssets in the protocol's treasury (incl. unallocated governance tokens)Value of the tokens held across a protocol's treasury contracts, sourced from onchain data
Net treasuryAssets in the protocol's treasury (excluding unallocated governance tokens)Value of the tokens held across a protocol's treasury contracts excluding unallocated governance tokens, sourced from onchain data

Developer activity

Metrics related to the level of engagement and contributions made by protocol developers.

Metric nameWhat is this metric?How is it calculated?
Core developersCore developers that contribute to the protocol's public GitHub repositoriesNumber of distinct users that made 1+ commits to the protocol's public repositories during the past 30 days, sourced from GitHub
Code commitsNew commits to the protocol's public GitHub repositoriesNumber of commits to the protocol's public repositories, sourced from GitHub

Alternative data

Alternative KPIs used to track the performance of protocols

Metric nameWhat is this metric?How is it calculated?
Active users (daily)Unique addresses that use the protocol's service on a daily basisNumber of unique addresses interacting with the protocol's business relevant smart contracts, sourced from onchain data
Active users (weekly)Unique addresses that use the protocol's service on a weekly basis, based on a 7-day rolling windowNumber of unique addresses interacting with the protocol's business relevant smart contracts, sourced from onchain data
Active users (monthly)Unique addresses that use the protocol's service on a monthly basis, based on a 30-day rolling windowNumber of unique addresses interacting with the protocol's business relevant smart contracts, sourced from onchain data
Average transaction feeAverage fee per transaction.Transaction fees divided by transaction count.
Core developersCore developers that contribute to the protocol's public GitHub repositoriesNumber of distinct users that made 1+ commits to the protocol's public repositories during the past 30 days, sourced from GitHub
Block timeAverage time elapsed between the addition of successive blocks to a blockchainBlock timestamps are sourced from onchain data, and the time elapsed between successive blocks is calculated and averaged during a specified time period (e.g. a day)
Code commitsNew commits to the protocol's public GitHub repositoriesNumber of commits to the protocol's public repositories, sourced from GitHub
Contract deployersNumber of externally-owned accounts (EOAs) that initiate transactions where contract creations occurNumber of distinct EOAs initiating transactions where contract creations occur, sourced from onchain data
Liquidity turnoverLiquidity turnover is a measurement of how much trading volume a DEX facilitates relative to its total value locked.Trading volume divided by total value locked, sourced from onchain data.
Tradeable assetsTradeable assets is a metric for DEXs (Decentralized Exchanges). It measures the number of tradable tokens in deployed liquidity pools.The calculation process involves determining the cumulative count of unique token addresses derived from trading pair creation events. Token liquidities are then summed up based on net deposits, and the tokens are categorized into liquidity cohorts.
Tradeable pairsTradable pairs is a metric for DEXs (Decentralized Exchanges). It measures the number of deployed trading pairs.This metric is calculated by determining the cumulative count of unique account addresses from trading pair creation events. Pair liquidities are obtained from net deposits, and pairs are then categorized into liquidity cohorts for analysis.
Transaction countNumber of onchain transactionsNumber of unique transactions on the protocol in a given time period
Transactions per secondNumber of transactions added to blockchains, per secondWe count the number of transactions added to a blockchain during a specified time period (e.g. a day) and divide it by the number of seconds elapsed during that period
Voting incentivesVoting incentives is a metric exclusively for DEXs with a ve(3,3) model. It measures all voting rewards received by vote-escrowed governance token holders.Sum of all voting rewards received by vote-escrowed governance token holders.