Being a cryptocurrency expert is all about identifying patterns, catching new trends, and discovering hidden gems that can bring you lucrative opportunities. All that requires sufficient access to data that is often scattered across different platforms and websites. 

CoinMarketCap (CMC) is a free-to-use website that not only consolidates this data and information under one umbrella but also analyzes and tracks various cryptocurrencies using graphs and charts.

From the market capitalization of various cryptocurrencies to their maximum and total supply and even their daily price movements across multiple exchanges, CMC offers crypto traders and enthusiasts in-depth and useful data that helps them make educated investment decisions.

Here is a guide on how to use CoinMarketCap.

CoinMarketCap's Price and Global Market Metrics

To begin with, the primary purpose for CMC is the market metrics they provide thus enabling crypto enthusiasts to access an easily verifiable source of information about the thousands of crypto assets listed on CMC.

Once you are on CMC's homepage, you will easily identify some of the global metrics displayed at the top of the page.

This section includes metrics such as:

•  The total number of cryptocurrencies listed on CMC is currently 11,776.

• Next, you have information about the total number of exchanges featured which is set at 405 at the time of writing.

• There is also data on the total market capitalization of the entire market now set at more than $2 trillion. You can use this metric to keep track of how much capital is flowing into the entire industry.

• You also have the Bitcoin and Ethereum dominance calculator that shows you what percentage of the entire industry's market cap is dedicated to BTC and ETH. Although market sentiments are generally determined by Bitcoin's movements, when Bitcoin's dominance is low, other smaller crypto assets gain attention from investors. At the moment, Bitcoin has a 41.2% dominance and Ethereum has a 19.4% dominance

• Then you can see the 24-hour trading volume metric which is currently set at more than $178 billion. 

• With Ethereum becoming the default dApp platform not to mention the popularity of DeFi platforms, CoinMarketCap now also shows you the current Ethereum gas fees you should expect whether you want to make a fast, slow, or standard transaction on the Ethereum network.

Other functions at the top of the homepage include the option to toggle to the "dark mode" as well as a button to select what fiat currency you want to use to view your coin rankings.

CoinMarketCap's Search Function

With the CMC search feature, you can pretty much look up any cryptocurrency you want. 

Granted, some coins are not listed on CMC however, with more than 10,000 coins so far, CMC is one of the best places to search for any coin. 

You can search by either typing the name of the projects or the ticker symbol that comes with the cryptocurrency or token. This is one of the functions that make CMC stand out as it serves the purpose of a one-stop-shop for discovering all-new cryptocurrencies emerging into the industry.

CMC's Coin Metric

Once you have searched for the cryptocurrency you want, you can click on its icon to access individual metrics about that crypto asset. CMC presents an intuitive interface for each digital asset. The dashboard comes standard for all cryptocurrencies. 

At the very top, you can view the rank of the coin, and how many people have it on their watchlist. In the case of Cardano ADA, there are over 1.3 million people that have it on their watchlist. 

The interface also comes with a section for the price, with an indicator of the 24-hour percentage change in USD (of fiat currency of choice) as well as in BTC and ETH. 

Next up, you get the link to the cryptocurrency's official website including a blockchain explorer link that lets you see the live activity of transactions on the project's blockchain network. 

CMC also comes with links to the project's whitepaper, community, and chat groups and a link to Binance Smart Chain's contracts. 

Market Capitalization

You also get to view the total market value of the cryptocurrency circulating supply. This is calculated by multiplying the last market price of the cryptocurrency by the circulating supply of tokens. For instance, if there last price of Bitcoin is $10,000 with a current circulating supply of 17 million BTC, the final market capitalization will be the result of multiplying 17,000,000 by 50,000 making BTC's market cap to be $170,000,000,000. 

Fully Diluted Market Cap

This data shows you the market capitalization of the cryptocurrency if the maximum supply of the cryptocurrency was in circulation. In most cases, the circulating supply of a crypto asset is not its maximum supply as more crypto assets are yet to be minted. Bitcoin for instance has a circulating supply of o18.8 million coins yet its maximum supply is set at 21 million. For coins with an infinite number of coins, metrics on the fully diluted market cap will be empty. 

24-hour Volume

This gives you a measure of how much of the specified cryptocurrency has been traded in the last 24 hours. This figure is achieved by calculating how much the exchanges report. CoinMarketCap then uses its existing reference prices to determine the final value. 

Circulating Supply

Then we have a metric for the coin's circulating supply. This approximates the number of coins that are held by the public and serves as a much better metric for determining the market capitalization of a crypto asset than the total supply. This method is analogous to the use of the public float technique in traditional markets where the value of an asset is determined by the portion of its shares that are held by the public. 

The CoinMarketCap team verifies the circulating supply of each coin through communications with the project's team. CMC's team asks the project managers for details such as the initial distribution of the crypto asset, its private allocations as well as the number of tokens locked in addresses for the team's marketing purposes or otherwise. 

The CMC team also evaluates the project's blockchain and distribution table to come up with an approximate value of freely circulating cryptocurrencies.

Maximum Supply 

This metric indicates the number of tokens that will ever exist throughout the lifetime of the project.

 Similar to circulating supply, the CMC team will inquire about this information from the project's team and CMC claims that any attempts to manipulate data will disqualify the project from being listed on CMC's site. 

Chart Data

You also get chart data with historic views of the asset's price movements. You can set this to view the coin's all-time performance or set it for 1 day, a week, or a few months. 

Historical Data

Apart from viewing a coin's market price movement, you can use CMC to view that coin's historical price data. For instance, you can click on the historical data button just above the chart to view a coin's price on specific dates in the past. 

This allows you to determine a coin's overall price trajectory in the long term or use the data to change or influence your trading strategies.

CMC's Exchange Ranking

Liquidity on various exchanges is the key ingredient to a smooth trading experience. CMC, therefore, lists and ranks the most liquid crypto exchanges out there thus making it easy for anyone to buy and sell several cryptocurrencies. You can view the list of exchanges where a certain crypto asset is available right below the chat of that project's coin metrics.

You can also go back to the home page and view the exchange tab. CMC gives you the option to browse through different categories of exchanges ranging from spot exchanges to derivative markets and also decentralized exchanges, 

You can go ahead and check all the spot exchanges features on CMC and compare their trading volume, average liquidity, and how many times users visit the exchange weekly. 

There is also access to deeper insights of specified exchanges such as the exchange's featured trading pairs, its official website, and its Twitter account as well as the type of fees charged on that exchange.

CMC's NFT Ranking

As NFTs continue to explode, crypto enthusiasts looking for the hottest and latest NFT-based project can check out CMC's NFT ranking page that lists NFTs based on a 7-day sales volume. 

The NFTs are listed in order of those with the most valuable collectible items. Given that most NFTs come in a collection of various items, CMC uses a collection net worth to determine the value of each NFT project. 

For instance, CryptoPunks has over 10,000 assets in its collection and a collective net worth of over $1.2 billion. The floor price indicated on these charts shows the price of the lowest value item in the collection of NFTs.

CoinMarketCap's Calendar

If you are looking to stay up to date on the latest upcoming events in the blockchain and crypto space, CMC's calendar offers an impressive list of upcoming updates, events, and conferences specific to various crypto projects. This is a decent way to remain at the bleeding edge of the industry as news of updates and project-related events normally results in an uptick in price. 

CMC also offers a calendar for upcoming airdrops thus allowing you to get free cryptocurrencies in time. 

There is also a calendar for upcoming or completed initial coin offerings (ICOs)

Portfolio Management

Perhaps you want to keep track of the coins in your portfolio, well, CoinMarketCap makes it easy to track all the coins you want with its portfolio feature. You can access the link to the portfolio section on the home screen. 

CMC gives you the option of customizing different portfolios whereby you can set up different portfolios for different exchanges. 

To add transactions to the portfolio, simply click on the "Add New" button.

This will allow you to add any number of tokens you have bought or sold recently as seen below.

You can also add the fee you paid as well as a note of details that will help you keep track of your transactions and trades. 

Once you are done, you will be able to see an overview of your holdings and their total value as in the example below.

CMC's Watchlist

You can use CMC to create a custom list of cryptocurrencies to keep an eye on. Once you have signed up, click on the watchlist tab that will lead you to your watchlist. Add coins to your watchlist by clicking the "Add Coins" button.

You can also click on the"watch" icon on the page of the coin and add it to your watchlist. 

Other options include clicking the star icon on the general list of ranked cryptocurrencies to add a coin to your watchlist. 

CMC allows you to set up several watchlists and you can even edit your watchlist to make it public or private. 

CoinMarketCap Alexandria

Lastly, CMC offers a learning platform called Alexandria where you can go to learn about anything related to decentralized finance, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain. You can choose from a wide variety of topics ranging from basic concepts and how-to articles to technical deep dives that offer in-depth information about specified projects. 

You can also earn while you learn about crypto by completing quizzes with your newfound knowledge. This is mostly supported for emerging crypto projects. A look at the "Earn" page of the CMC site reveals several projects whose cryptocurrency can be earned through learning and answering questions related to the project.

An all-round Crypto platform

In addition to the features listed above, CoinMArketCap offers other interesting features such as an API (Application Programming Interface) that allows you to pull market data from its platform into an excel sheet or to another program or even another platform. Cryptoexchangereviews.com uses the API to populate the coin data in their various exchange reviews as well as in their trading pair area for people who want to explore using trading bots as means of automated trading.

This API can be used to test different trading strategies and other experiments. CMC also offers a converter, a job board for crypto-related projects, a token swap protocol on Ethereum, BSC, and HECO blockchain as well as a mobile application. If you are looking to get started on your crypto journey or even if you already know your way around, be sure to try out CoinMarketCap.