FDV (fully diluted valuation)
FDV (fully diluted valuation) is what a token's market cap would be if its entire maximum supply were circulating today, priced at the current market price. It is calculated as price multiplied by total or maximum supply, and it is usually much larger than the live market cap when most tokens are still locked.
How it is calculated
FDV is the current token price times the maximum (or total) supply, whereas market cap is the price times only the circulating supply. If a token trades at $1 with 100M circulating but a 1B max supply, its market cap is $100M and its FDV is $1B — the same price, a tenfold difference in headline valuation.
Why it matters
A wide gap between FDV and market cap is the low float, high FDV setup: only a small slice of supply trades today, so price is set by scarcity, and the remaining tokens are scheduled to unlock over the coming months and years. Those unlocks are structural sell pressure that the current price has not yet absorbed.
How to read it
Look at the FDV/market-cap ratio alongside the unlock schedule, not the headline FDV alone. A ratio near 1 means most supply already circulates and dilution risk is low; a ratio of 5 or 10 means heavy dilution is coming. The vesting calendar tells you when that supply hits the market.
Common misreads
FDV is not money raised and not value locked — it is a hypothetical. For tokens with uncapped or inflationary supply, max supply is undefined and FDV becomes meaningless. And comparing FDV to unrelated figures like TVL or revenue mixes a speculative valuation with a real one.