Bitcoin Dominance Chart (BTC.D)

Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D) is bitcoin’s share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. It measures relative size, not direction: dominance can rise while bitcoin’s price falls, as long as the rest of the market falls faster.

How BTC dominance is calculated

BTC dominance = bitcoin market cap ÷ total crypto market cap × 100

Dominance is calculated from CoinGecko global market data at a daily interval. Bitcoin’s market cap is its price multiplied by circulating supply. The total includes every tracked coin and token, stablecoins included.

Hypothetical example: bitcoin is worth $1.2 trillion and the whole market $2 trillion, so dominance is 60%. If bitcoin drops 10% to $1.08 trillion and everything else stays flat, the total becomes $1.88 trillion and dominance falls to about 57.4%. If every asset drops 10% together, dominance stays at 60%.

Reading the chart and zones

The chart plots dominance alongside BTC price on a log scale, and each reading is labeled Altcoin-led, Balanced or Bitcoin-led. A rising line means capital is concentrating in bitcoin relative to everything else. A falling line means other assets are gaining share, which is one input behind the Altcoin Season Index. The all-time high, low and averages cover only the recorded period, not bitcoin’s full trading life.

What moves dominance

• Relative performance: bitcoin outpacing or lagging other coins is the main driver.
• Stablecoins: Tether and USDC sit in the denominator. When their supply grows, dominance falls even if no altcoin rallies, because new dollars counted as crypto dilute bitcoin’s share. A version of the ratio that excludes stablecoins reads higher for that reason.
• New listings: tokens added to the tracked universe enlarge the total.

Limits

Market cap multiplies the last price by supply, so thinly traded tokens with large supplies can inflate the total without matching liquidity. Dominance says nothing about whether the overall market is rising, so pair it with the Bitcoin price chart and sentiment gauges such as the Crypto Fear and Greed Index.