Market cap, liquidity and volume: the three numbers that decide a memecoin trade

market cap

Price × circulating supply. It tells you how the market values the token, and how much room there is to grow. A $300K token doubling needs $300K of net buying; a $30M token needs $30M. Market cap sets the size of the move you can expect.

Watch the ratio to the trend-entry market cap. A token 5x above where it started trending has already paid the early crowd.

liquidity

The value in the trading pool. It decides slippage: selling 1% of the pool moves price about 2%. Rule of thumb: liquidity should be at least 5–10% of market cap. Below that, market cap is a number nobody can realise.

Locked or burned liquidity removes the rug-pull-by-withdrawal risk. It does not remove the dump-by-holders risk.

volume

Value traded in a window (6h, 24h). It measures attention and confirms trends. Volume above liquidity means the pool turns over: real trading. Volume far below liquidity means nobody is there.

Rising price on falling volume is distribution: the last buyers are meeting the first sellers.

the ratios

• Liquidity / market cap ≥ 5%: exitable.
• 6h volume / liquidity ≥ 1: alive.
• 6h volume / market cap ≥ 20%: hot. Above 200%: peak attention, often the top.

Fomo Trending removes tokens after 12 hours below $10K of 6-hour volume for exactly this reason: dead volume means dead token.

how to use them in 10 seconds

Open the token. Market cap tells you the upside. Liquidity tells you the exit. Volume tells you whether anyone else is there. If any of the three fails its ratio, there is no trade, however good the chart looks.