How actively does stablecoin supply circulate relative to the amount outstanding?
As of October 11, 2026, each dollar of stablecoin supply generated 0.119 times its value in daily venue-reported trading volume across 20 tracked stablecoins. USDT recorded the highest turnover, at 0.150 times per day.
Velocity measures the daily turnover of stablecoin supply: V = venue-reported trading volume ÷ market capitalization.
The measure adapts the monetary-velocity concept in the Fisher equation, MV = PQ, to stablecoins. It provides an indication of how much of the outstanding supply is actively turning over in reported markets, as distinct from balances held in custody, posted as collateral or deployed for yield.
Aggregate stablecoin velocity is down 42.7% over 90 days. USDF recorded the lowest velocity of the tracked coins, at 0.0001. The gap between the most and least active reflects the different functions stablecoins perform and the markets in which they trade; it should not be interpreted as a ranking of their quality.
The numerator is venue-reported trading volume, aggregated from market data across venues that publish trading activity.
That distinction matters. Reported turnover on unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges is known to contain a substantial non-economic component. In a study of 29 centralised cryptocurrency exchanges, Cong, Li, Tang and Yang estimate that wash trading at the unregulated exchanges in their sample averaged more than 70% of reported volume.[1]
This has three implications for how the series should be interpreted.
First, the velocity levels shown here are better understood as an upper bound on observable economic turnover, rather than a direct measure of underlying economic activity.
Second, changes in a coin's velocity over time are generally more informative than its absolute level. Where the mix of reporting venues remains broadly stable, distortions in reported volume are more likely to affect the level of the series than the direction of travel.
Third, differences between stablecoins partly reflect where they trade, not simply how intensively they are used. A coin with greater exposure to high-volume venues may record a higher velocity even if some of that difference does not represent additional economic activity. Cross-coin rankings should therefore be read as comparisons of observable reported turnover, rather than of economic use alone.
No adjustment, filtering or discount is applied to the reported-volume input. The series uses the figures reported by venues and makes that limitation explicit.
The coin actively circulates, used in trading pairs, exchange settlement, and remittance flows. High velocity means the stablecoin is functioning as a medium of exchange.
For policymakers: Strong monetary function signal, supports economic activity. For enterprise: High liquidity, reliable for large-volume settlement flows.
Mixed use, a blend of active payments and passive holding. Typical for stablecoins with both retail and DeFi adoption. Growing velocity in this range may signal ecosystem expansion.
For policymakers: Moderate monetary utility, monitor for trend direction. For enterprise: Functional for most use cases but may have liquidity gaps at scale.
Capital is largely idle, locked as DeFi collateral, deposited in yield vaults, or held speculatively. Low velocity is not inherently bad; it reflects a different economic role than payments.
For policymakers: Limited monetary transmission, capital not circulating in the real economy. For enterprise: May indicate thin liquidity, check order book depth before large flows.
Formula: Vi = venue-reported 24h trading volumei ÷ market capitalizationi, per coin, per day. Aggregate velocity is the sum of volume across all tracked coins divided by total market capitalization, so it is supply-weighted rather than an average of per-coin ratios. Displayed values use a 7-day rolling average to reduce daily noise.
Theoretical basis: monetary velocity from the Fisher equation MV = PQ. Applied to stablecoins, V measures how many times each unit of supply turns over per day in venue-reported trading volume.
Coverage: 20 stablecoins report both a volume and a supply figure and are included. A coin missing either is excluded for that day rather than counted as zero. The scope of the volume input is set out under Coverage of the Volume Input above.[1]
Updated daily. See the methodology for data sources and coverage.
The Stablecoin Velocity Index measures how actively stablecoins circulate relative to the amount outstanding. It is calculated as venue-reported trading volume divided by market capitalization (V = volume ÷ market cap), applying the monetary velocity concept of the Fisher equation MV = PQ. A higher value means more turnover per dollar of supply.
USDT currently records the highest daily turnover among the tracked stablecoins, at 0.150.
Velocity tends to be highest where trading activity is concentrated. Stablecoins used extensively as quote currencies on exchanges, or as settlement assets in over-the-counter and cross-border transactions, can turn over a larger proportion of their outstanding supply each day than coins held primarily in custody, used as collateral or deployed in yield-bearing strategies.
The comparison nevertheless requires caution. Because the numerator is venue-reported trading volume, a high velocity reflects where and how a stablecoin trades as well as how much it is used. Rankings between coins should therefore be interpreted as measures of observable market turnover, not as direct rankings of underlying economic activity.
A sustained decline in aggregate velocity is consistent with stablecoin supply growing faster than turnover, or with holders shifting balances into less active deployment. It is one of several proxies to monitor alongside market cap growth and peg stability.
The economic intuition is similar: both measures relate the amount of activity taking place to the stock of money supporting it. But the quantities in the numerator are fundamentally different.
Stablecoin velocity on this page uses venue-reported trading volume, whereas conventional measures such as M2 velocity compare a monetary aggregate with national economic output, typically nominal GDP.
The two figures are therefore not directly comparable. Any contrast between them reflects a difference in what is being measured, rather than simply a higher or lower degree of monetary circulation.
As of Oct 2026, USDT leads the velocity ranking among tracked stablecoins at 0.150 per day, and USDF is the least active at 0.0001. Rankings shift with market conditions and this page updates daily.
Turnover adjusted for size Liquidity uses the same venue-reported volume input as the Velocity Index, but scales it differently. Velocity divides volume by market capitalization; Liquidity divides it by the square root of market capitalization. The measure does not attempt to estimate order-book depth or how much can trade before the price moves.
Velocity as a grouping variable Coins are grouped by how they behave rather than by size alone, with velocity among the inputs that help distinguish, for example, settlement instruments from collateral-oriented coins.
Whether the price holds while it circulates High turnover is less meaningful if the unit cannot maintain parity while that activity takes place.
The denominator Velocity declines when market capitalization grows faster than turnover, making the two series useful to read alongside one another.
Share of supply against share of activity A coin can account for a large share of market capitalization while representing a much smaller share of turnover.
Definitions and coverage Universe definitions, the hierarchy of source authority and the coverage rules behind the volume and supply series.