Market cap and FDV
Market cap is the last traded price multiplied by the tokens in circulation. Fully diluted valuation, FDV, uses the total supply including tokens that are locked or not yet released. For most pump.fun coins the two are identical because everything is in circulation from day one. Where they differ, the gap is future selling pressure: tokens that will be unlocked and, usually, sold.
Why liquidity matters more
A coin can have a $2 million market cap with $8,000 sitting in its pool. Try to sell $3,000 worth and you will move the price by a double-digit percentage against yourself. Market cap tells you what everyone would get if they all sold at the current price, which is impossible. Liquidity tells you what happens when you sell. That is the number that concerns you.
- >10%
- liquidity to market cap: healthy for a small coin
- 2–5%
- thin, expect slippage
- <2%
- the price is decorative
Reading the numbers together
- High market cap, low liquidity: looks big, exits small. Classic setup for a slow drain.
- Low market cap, decent liquidity: someone put real money in the pool. Not proof of quality, but proof of commitment.
- Liquidity dropping while price holds: the pool is being withdrawn in pieces. Leave before the last piece.
- Volume much bigger than liquidity: heavy churn on a thin pool. Bots and wash trading are likely.
See liquidity across all poolsThe coin check sums liquidity and volume over every pool of a token.