Realized price: the average price coins last moved at
Realized cap divided by supply: the average price at which coins last moved on-chain.
On-chain and crypto investing, explained
Learn to read the blockchain before you invest in it
TokenTrail turns the public ledger — blocks, wallets, fees, flows — into plain-English guides for complete beginners. Every figure is traced to a primary source, and nothing here is for sale.
Coins issued (cumulative)New coins per block
Computed from Bitcoin Core’s 210,000-block halving interval and 50 BTC starting subsidy. Block heights are exact; calendar dates are not.
One map of the crypto data you will meet
Crypto data comes from two very different places: trading venues, and the blockchains themselves. Most beginner mistakes start with mixing them up. Our library is organised around that split.
- 44guides
- 16metric profiles
- 24glossary terms
Off-chain
Market data
Prices, order books, futures and the behaviour of exchanges — information created by trading venues, not by the blockchain.
- Spot vs derivatives — what you actually own
- Funding rates — the cost of holding a perpetual
- Open interest — how much leverage is outstanding
- Order books — where prices come from
- Spot bitcoin ETFs — exposure without a wallet
Sources: exchange and regulator documentation.
On-chain
Fundamentals
What the network itself records: blocks, transactions, fees, hash rate and staking.
- Blocks & confirmations — when a payment is final
- Fees — why they spike
- Hash rate — how much work secures Bitcoin
- Active addresses — usage, with caveats
On-chain economics
What analysts derive from that record: cost basis, profit and loss, holder age and flows.
- Realized price — the market’s average cost
- MVRV — price versus cost basis
- SOPR — are sellers in profit?
- Exchange flows — coins moving to and from venues
Sources: protocol documentation, client source code and metric authors.
Read it your way: guides, the metrics library, the glossary or the calculators.
TokenTrail metrics
A metrics library written for people who have never opened a chart tool
Each profile explains one indicator: the formula in words, who introduced it, how analysts read it, and the specific ways it misleads.
- Formulas shown step by step, with a worked example computed in code.
- The original author and paper for every metric, linked.
- A “limits” section on every page — no metric is a buy or sell signal.
Featured metric profiles
MVRV ratio: market value compared with realized value
Market cap divided by realized cap: how far today’s value sits above or below on-chain cost.
NUPL: how much paper profit or loss the network holds
Net paper profit or loss of all coins as a share of market cap — above zero, the network is in profit.
SOPR: are coins being spent at a profit or a loss?
Value of coins when spent divided by their value when created: above 1, spenders realize profit.
HODL waves: reading Bitcoin’s supply by coin age
Bitcoin’s supply split into age bands by when coins last moved — a picture of holding and spending.
Hash rate: how much work is securing Bitcoin
How much proof-of-work miners perform per second — estimated, never directly observed.
Puell Multiple: is miner income high or low compared with the past year?
Today’s dollar value of newly mined bitcoin divided by its one-year average — a gauge of miner income.
Exchange netflow: coins in minus coins out
Coins sent to labelled exchange addresses minus coins withdrawn from them — only as good as the labels.
Stablecoin supply ratio (SSR): Bitcoin’s size against the stablecoin pile
Bitcoin’s market cap divided by the market cap of tracked stablecoins — a rough gauge of dollar “dry powder”.
Funding rate: the price of staying long or short in perpetual futures
The periodic payment between longs and shorts that keeps perpetual futures near spot — a gauge of positioning.
All 16 metric profiles · each with sources and limits.
TokenTrail beginner trail
Know where to start. Know what to skip.
Ten guides in a fixed order take you from “what is a block?” to sizing a position you can live with. No sign-up, no paywall, no course to buy.
I’m brand new
What a blockchain is, how a transaction moves, and how to keep keys safe.
Start step oneI want to invest carefully
Volatility, position sizing, DCA and the scams aimed at newcomers.
Investing basicsI want to read on-chain charts
Cost basis, holder cohorts and flows — and where those charts mislead.
On-chain analysisTokenTrail guides
The story behind every chart, told without hype
Long-form explainers on blockchains, markets and risk. Each one opens with a 50-word answer, cites its sources line by line, and ends with the mistakes beginners make most.
Recently published guides
Bitcoin halving explained: how the 21 million supply schedule works
Every 210,000 blocks the number of new bitcoins created per block is cut in half. Here is the rule, the arithmetic behind the cap, and the claims about halvings you should treat with care.
7 sources · 5 primary
Crypto volatility and risk: how big the swings are and what else can go wrong
Volatility is how far and how fast a price moves. In crypto it is large, but it is only one of several risks. Here is how volatility is measured, why it is so high, and how to prepare for it before you invest.
10 sources · 9 primary
Custodial vs non-custodial wallets: who really holds your crypto?
With a custodial account a company holds the keys and you trust it. With self-custody you hold the keys and carry the responsibility. Here is what changes, risk by risk.
14 sources · 13 primary
Spot vs derivatives in crypto: owning a coin vs betting on its price
On a spot market you buy the coin itself. On a derivatives market you trade a contract whose value follows the coin’s price. That one difference changes what you own, what you can lose and which costs you pay.
8 sources · 7 primary
Looking for one specific word?
Search 109 pages of guides, metric profiles and glossary entries. Press / anywhere on the site.
Search runs in your browser; we do not log what you type.
How we keep a crypto education site honest
Primary sources first
Figures come from protocol specifications, client code, regulators and original metric authors — never from another blog’s summary.
An independent check
Before publication, a separate fact-checking pass that did not write the page re-checks every number, date and rule against its source.
Nothing for sale
No affiliate links, no sponsored posts, no token promotions, no ads. We earn nothing when you buy anything.
Beginner-first
Each page opens with a 50-word answer and defines every term the first time it appears.
Limits stated
Every metric profile ends with how it misleads. If a chart cannot tell you something, we say so.
Three ways into the same library
TokenTrail guides
The story behind the data
Long-form guides on blockchains, markets, investing risk and security, each with sources and common mistakes.
Browse the guides
TokenTrail metrics
One metric at a time
Profiles of the indicators analysts quote most, with formulas, original authors, worked examples and limits.
Open the library
TokenTrail tools
Do the arithmetic yourself
Calculators for averaging in, sizing positions, cost basis and drawdowns — each shows its formula.
Use the calculators