In our previous article, we introduced the "Big Four" metrics widely used in crypto quantitative analysis: price, trading volume, supply, and market capitalization. This guide expands on those fundamentals by detailing over 50 additional metrics critical for evaluating cryptocurrencies.
Core On-Chain Metrics
1. Transaction Volume (Tx Vol)
- Definition: The USD sum of all transaction outputs (excluding known "change" outputs) from blocks mined in the last 24 hours.
- Note: For XRP and XLM, this only reflects transferred value, not total activity.
2. Median Transaction Value
- Represents the middle value of all transactions in the past day.
- May be $0 if >50% of on-chain transactions involve no value transfer (common for non-payment-focused smart contract chains).
3. NVT Ratio
- Network Value-to-Transaction Ratio: Compares market cap to 7-day average daily transaction volume.
- Functions like a crypto "P/E ratio" — gauges how much value markets assign to actual usage.
- Caution: NVT isn’t comparable across tokens with different transaction types (e.g., UTXO vs. account-based chains).
Key Network Activity Indicators
✅ Active Addresses
Unique addresses transacting in the past 24 hours.
(For privacy coins like Monero, exact counts are technically unverifiable.)
📊 24-Hour Metrics
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Transactions | Count of non-issuance transactions. |
| Payments | Value-transfer transactions only. |
| New Issuance (USD) | Dollar value of newly minted tokens. |
| Transaction Fees (USD) | Total fees paid in USD. |
| Median Fee (USD) | Middle value of all fees paid. |
Consensus & Mining Data
⛏️ Mining-Specific Metrics
- Average Difficulty: 24-hour mean mining difficulty.
- Hash Rate: Total computational power securing the network.
- 51% Attack Cost: Theoretical NiceHash rental cost to overpower the network for 1 hour or 24 hours.
🏷️ Staking Metrics
- Annualized Staking Yield: Nominal and real (inflation-adjusted) returns.
- % Network Staking: Proportion of circulating supply locked in staking.
Market Cycle Analysis
📈 All-Time High (ATH) & Cycle Lows
- ATH Price (USD): Highest recorded trade price (excluding first 10 days of trading).
- Breakeven Multiple: How much the price must rise to reclaim ATH (e.g., 8x means an 800% gain is needed).
🔄 Risk-Adjusted Returns
- Volatility: Annualized standard deviation of daily returns.
- Sharpe Ratio: Measures excess return per unit of risk.
Project Fundamentals
💻 Github Activity
- Commits (90D/1Y): Code updates to the primary repo.
- Lines Added/Removed: Indicates development momentum.
💰 Token Distribution
- Initial Supply Breakdown: Allocations to investors, pre-mines, and founders at launch.
FAQs
❓ Why is median transaction value sometimes $0?
This occurs when most on-chain activity involves non-monetary actions (e.g., smart contract calls).
❓ How reliable is NVT for altcoins?
Less reliable for UTXO-based coins (e.g., Bitcoin) due to overestimated transaction volumes from unmeasurable "change" outputs.
❓ What’s a good Sharpe Ratio?
Positive values indicate risk-efficient returns; negative values suggest undue risk for gains.