Beyond price, several key metrics help you understand what’s happening in crypto markets. Learning to read these data points gives you an edge over investors who only look at price charts.
Trading Volume
Volume = the total amount of a cryptocurrency traded in a period (usually 24 hours). High volume during a price move means conviction — many people are participating. Low volume during a move means it might not last. Volume is the “confidence meter” of the market.
What to watch:
- Volume increasing with price = healthy trend
- Price rising on low volume = weak rally, might reverse
- Price dropping on high volume = strong sell-off, potentially serious
- Sudden volume spike = major event or whale activity
Bitcoin Dominance
Bitcoin dominance = Bitcoin’s market cap as a percentage of total crypto market cap. Currently around 50-60%. When dominance rises, it means Bitcoin is outperforming altcoins. When it falls, altcoins are outperforming Bitcoin (often called “alt season”).
Typical pattern:
- Early bull market: BTC dominance rises (Bitcoin leads)
- Late bull market: BTC dominance falls (altcoins catch up and outperform)
- Bear market: BTC dominance rises again (altcoins fall harder)
Total Value Locked (TVL)
TVL = total assets deposited in DeFi protocols. A high and growing TVL means people trust DeFi and are putting real money to work. Falling TVL can indicate declining confidence or users withdrawing funds.
Check TVL on DeFi Llama (defillama.com) — the best dashboard for DeFi data.
Fear & Greed Index
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index (alternative.me) measures market sentiment on a scale of 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed). Historically: buying during “extreme fear” and selling during “extreme greed” has been profitable. The index uses volatility, social media sentiment, volume, and other factors.
Open Interest (Futures)
Open interest = total value of outstanding derivatives contracts. High open interest means lots of leveraged positions. When combined with rising prices and high leverage, it can signal an overleveraged market vulnerable to liquidation cascades.
Where to Find Market Data
- CoinMarketCap / CoinGecko: Price, volume, market cap
- DeFi Llama: TVL across all DeFi protocols
- Glassnode: On-chain analytics (addresses, flows, holder behavior)
- TradingView: Charts and technical analysis
- Alternative.me: Fear & Greed Index
- Coinglass: Futures data, liquidations, open interest
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