What Is Rank?

Rank is the relative position a cryptocurrency occupies in the market. Usually, the rank of a digital currency is evaluated by its market capitalization. Market capitalization, or market cap, is calculated by multiplying the price of a cryptocurrency with its circulating supply at any given time.

Apart from relying solely on price and circulating supply, some ranking platforms consider an asset’s 24-hour trading volume. Since the birth of digital currency, Bitcoin has occupied position one.

Ethereum has largely managed to maintain as second in rank, although it was once dethroned by Ripple (XRP). XRP usually occupies the third in rank until Ripple faced security accusations with the SEC, which caused its coin to nosedive, both in market price and rank. Generally, apart from Bitcoin, the rest of the coins fluctuate in rank depending on market sentiment and price action.

Examples of coins that battle for the top ten positions include BTC, ETH, XRP, Tether (USDT), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Chainlink (LINK), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), EOS (EOS), Monero (XMR) and Binance Coin (BNB). Since the rank of a cryptocurrency is largely dependent on the market capitalization, investor sentiments and industry news play a huge role.

Although most individuals track cryptocurrency ranks according to market cap, CoinMarketCap gives the option to adjust ranking based on price, 24-hour and seven-day price change, volume and circulating supply.