Glossary

Cost basis

Cost basis is the average price at which a group of holders acquired their coins.

Cost basis is the average acquisition price of a coin or a group of coins. For one investor, it is the total amount paid divided by the number of coins. On-chain analysts compute it for whole groups. They use the price on the day each coin last moved on the blockchain as its acquisition price.

The result is stated in US dollars per coin. It can be computed for any cohort, such as short-term holders or long-term holders. Different cohorts have different cost bases. Comparing the market price with a cohort cost basis shows whether that cohort is sitting on an unrealized gain or loss on average.

A cost basis is an average. It hides the spread of prices inside the group. Some holders in the group bought far above the average and some far below. The method also treats a coin that moved between two wallets of the same owner as a new purchase. Read the figure as an approximation, not as an exact record.