Crypto Market Cap Categories: Large, Mid and Small Caps

Two coins can have the same price and be completely different in size. That is why many investors look at market cap rather than price alone, and why so many sites sort coins into crypto market cap categories such as large cap, mid cap and small cap.

This guide explains what market cap means, how the usual size groups work, and why size is linked to how prices move. It also covers why a coin's category is never fixed, and how Stratalla groups the coins it tracks.

What is market cap?

Market cap, short for market capitalisation, is the total value of all the coins of one project that are currently in circulation. It is calculated by multiplying the price of one coin by the circulating supply.

Circulating supply is the number of coins that exist and can be traded right now. It leaves out coins that are locked, reserved, or not yet created.

Here is an example with made-up numbers. Neither coin is real.

Coin A has the lower price, but it is five times larger by market cap. A low price on its own says very little about how big a project is.

Market cap is also a snapshot. It changes every time the price changes. It isn't the amount of money that has gone into a coin, and it isn't the amount that could be taken out if everyone sold at once.

What do large cap, mid cap and small cap mean?

Most sites divide coins into a few broad size groups:

• Large cap: the biggest coins by market cap. They are usually older, widely known and traded on many platforms.
• Mid cap: coins in the middle. They are established but smaller than the leaders.
• Small cap: smaller coins. They are often newer, more niche, or less widely traded. Some sites add a "micro cap" group for the very smallest.

There is no single official cut-off between these groups. No regulator or industry body defines them. Some sites use dollar thresholds, others use rank (for example, the top 10 or top 100), and the numbers differ from site to site.

So one site might call a coin mid cap while another calls it large cap. The labels are a rough guide, and it helps to check how each source defines them before comparing.

How does large cap vs small cap crypto differ?

The two main differences are liquidity and how prices tend to move.

Liquidity describes how easily a coin can be bought or sold without changing its price much. Larger coins usually trade in bigger amounts, with more buyers and sellers, so a single large order has less effect on the price. Smaller coins often have thinner trading. One large order can move the price noticeably, and the gap between the buying and selling price, called the spread, can be wider.

Size also affects price movement. Because it takes less money to move a smaller coin's price, small caps often see larger and faster swings in both directions. News, a new listing, or one large holder can matter more.

None of this makes large caps safe. Crypto as a whole can fall sharply, and big coins can drop a long way too. Size changes the kind of risk, not whether there is risk. Neither group is better. Each comes with different trade-offs.

Why do crypto market cap categories change?

Size categories are relative. A coin's place depends on its own market cap and also on the market caps of every other coin around it.

When categories are based on rank, a coin can slip down even while its market cap grows, because others grew faster. It can also move up because coins above it shrank. When categories use fixed dollar cut-offs, a broad rise or fall across the market can move many coins across a line at once.

Supply matters too. As new coins are released, for example through mining rewards or scheduled unlocks, the circulating supply grows. That can raise market cap even when the price stays the same.

New projects appear, and others fade or are removed from trading. Together, these shifts mean a category is a description of the present, not a permanent label.

How does Stratalla group coins by market cap?

Stratalla ranks the coins it tracks by market cap and places each one into one of six tiers by percentile. A percentile describes a position in a ranked list. "Top 5%" means the largest 5 out of every 100 coins Stratalla tracks.

• Titans: top 5%
• Giants: the next 10% (5% to 15%)
• Movers: 15% to 30%
• Sprinters: 30% to 50%
• Underdogs: 50% to 75%
• Wild Cards: bottom 25%

The tiers are relative to the coins Stratalla tracks, not to the whole crypto market. The bottom tier is the bottom of Stratalla's list, not the bottom of the entire market. The tiers are recalculated as market caps change, so a coin can move from one tier to another.

The names are labels for size only. They don't rate a coin's quality or safety, and no tier is better than another. The tier appears as a badge in the crypto screener and on coin pages. The free plan includes the screener for a limited set of coins.

Stratalla doesn't tell readers what to buy or sell, and it doesn't predict prices. The tiers describe size, nothing more.

How can size categories fit into research?

Market cap is one piece of context. It says how large a project is right now, not whether the project is useful, well run, or fairly valued. A few questions can help keep size in perspective:

• How does this source define its categories, and how many coins does it cover?
• How liquid is the coin, and how wide does its spread tend to be?
• Is the circulating supply likely to grow, and by how much?
• How would a mix of larger and smaller coins change the overall risk of a portfolio?
• What else is known about the project beyond its size?

For a wider foundation, crypto investing 101 covers the basics of planning and risk. The crypto academy has lessons on the basics, risk and planning for anyone who wants to go step by step.

This article is for education only. It isn't financial advice, and nothing here recommends buying or selling any asset. Crypto prices can fall sharply, and you can lose money. Consider your own situation, and speak to a qualified adviser if you need personal guidance.