Metrics library
- Realized cap: valuing coins at the price they last moved
- Realized price: the average price coins last moved at
- MVRV ratio: market value compared with realized value
- NVT ratio: network value compared with on-chain volume
- NUPL: how much paper profit or loss the network holds
- SOPR: are coins being spent at a profit or a loss?
- Percent supply in profit: how many coins are above water
- HODL waves: reading Bitcoin’s supply by coin age
- Coin Days Destroyed: measuring when old bitcoin starts to move
- Hash rate: how much work is securing Bitcoin
- Active addresses: counting who used the chain — roughly
- Puell Multiple: is miner income high or low compared with the past year?
- Exchange netflow: coins in minus coins out
- Stablecoin supply ratio (SSR): Bitcoin’s size against the stablecoin pile
- Funding rate: the price of staying long or short in perpetual futures
- Open interest: how much leveraged exposure is open right now
NUPL: how much paper profit or loss the network holds
NUPL asks a simple question: if every coin were sold at today’s price, would holders as a group be up or down, and by how much relative to the market’s size?
Photo: “thermometer” by R4vi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr (edited: cropped and resized).
NUPL (net unrealized profit/loss) is unrealized profit minus unrealized loss, divided by market cap — equivalently, (market cap − realized cap) ÷ market cap [1]. Above zero, the network as a whole sits on paper profit; below zero, on paper loss [1].
Key points
- 1NUPL = (market cap − realized cap) ÷ market cap.
- 2Positive values mean net paper profit across all coins; negative values mean net paper loss.
- 3It can never reach 1, but in theory has no floor below zero.
- 4Colour bands on NUPL charts are provider conventions; our sources give no standard cut-offs.
What does NUPL measure?#
Every coin that is not yet sold has a paper result. If the price today is higher than when the coin last moved, it sits on an unrealized profit; if lower, on an unrealized loss. Glassnode frames the whole family of profit and loss metrics around one question: what would holders gain or lose if every coin were sold today [1]?
NUPL nets the two sides and scales the result by market cap. That scaling matters: a $10 billion paper gain means something very different for a $50 billion network than for a $1 trillion one. Look Into Bitcoin explains the same idea as dividing total paper profit or loss by market cap so that changes can be tracked over time, and notes the metric is also called relative unrealized profit/loss [2].
How is NUPL calculated?#
NUPL = (Market cap − Realized cap) ÷ Market capGlassnode defines NUPL as relative unrealized profit minus relative unrealized loss, which simplifies to this formula [1]. Coin Metrics computes it the same way [3]. Because MVRV = market cap ÷ realized cap, NUPL also equals 1 − 1 ÷ MVRV.
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Unrealized profit: 400 × ($30 − $5) + 300 × ($30 − $20) | $13,000 |
| Unrealized loss: 200 × ($40 − $30) + 100 × ($60 − $30) | $5,000 |
| Market cap: 1,000 × $30 | $30,000 |
| Relative profit $13,000 ÷ $30,000 minus relative loss $5,000 ÷ $30,000 | 0.433 − 0.167 = 0.267 |
| Check with caps: ($30,000 − realized cap $22,000) ÷ $30,000 | 0.267 |
| Same coin at $15 / $22 / $45 / $70 | −0.47 / 0 / 0.51 / 0.69 |
Both routes give the same answer, because net unrealized profit always equals market cap minus realized cap. At $22 — exactly the realized price — gains and losses cancel and NUPL is zero.
How NUPL is built
How do analysts read NUPL?#
Glassnode’s guide gives the basic frame: above zero the network is in net profit, below zero in net loss, and the further NUPL moves from zero, the closer the market has historically been to tops or bottoms [1]. Look Into Bitcoin describes a red, “greed” band where market cap has risen much faster than profit-taking, and splits NUPL into ranges meant to mark market stages [2].
| NUPL value | What it means | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Above 0.5 | Net paper profit is more than half of market cap | When holders will start selling |
| Between 0 and 0.5 | Net paper profit, but under half of market cap | Which coins are in profit — a few large wallets can dominate |
| Exactly 0 | Price equals realized price; gains and losses cancel | That this level acts as support |
| Below 0 | Holders as a group sit on net paper loss | That the low is in |
What are LTH-NUPL and STH-NUPL?#
Glassnode splits NUPL by coin age. Long-term holder NUPL only includes coins at least 155 days old; short-term holder NUPL only includes younger coins [4] [5]. Glassnode introduced both versions in March 2020 [4]. The split matters because the two groups behave differently — younger coins are statistically far more likely to be spent [6]. See long-term vs short-term holders for more.
Where does NUPL mislead?#
- It is built on realized cap. Each coin’s cost is taken from its last on-chain move, so self-transfers and exchange reshuffles reset “cost” without any trade. Read the realized cap profile for the details.
- It is a net figure. A large profit on a few old wallets can outweigh losses on many newer ones. Pair NUPL with percent supply in profit, which counts coins instead of dollars.
- It has a ceiling but no floor. Since realized cap is positive, NUPL stays below 1. When the price collapses far below realized price, NUPL can go well below −1 in theory: in the example above, a price of $4 would give −4.5.
- History is short. Interpretations of extreme values rest on a few Bitcoin cycles, not on a long statistical record.
NUPL in one box
What mistakes do beginners make here?#
- Treating colour bands as official
Zone names and cut-offs are chosen by each chart provider. They are not part of the NUPL formula.
- Reading NUPL as the share of holders in profit
NUPL is weighted by dollars, not by coins or people. A NUPL of 0.3 does not mean 30% of holders are in profit.
- Ignoring realized cap distortions
If many old coins move, realized cap jumps and NUPL drops, even if no one sold at a loss.
- Expecting a floor at zero
NUPL can fall below zero and stay there. Zero is a break-even reference, not support.
Frequently asked questions#
What does a negative NUPL mean?
That, on aggregate, coins are worth less today than when they last moved on-chain — the network as a whole sits on paper losses [1].
Is NUPL the same as MVRV?
They use the same two inputs. NUPL equals 1 − 1 ÷ MVRV, so they always move in the same direction, but on different scales. See the MVRV ratio.
Who created NUPL?
Can NUPL be calculated for Ethereum?
The profit and loss definitions rely on knowing when each coin last moved, which is natural on UTXO chains [8]. Account-based chains need approximations, so treat their NUPL with extra caution.
The bottom line#
NUPL turns the gap between market cap and realized cap into a share of market cap: a quick read on how much paper profit or loss the whole network is carrying. Positive means net profit, negative means net loss.
It inherits every weakness of realized cap and hides how profit is spread across holders. Read it next to MVRV, percent supply in profit and SOPR, which shows what holders actually realize when they spend.
Sources#
Grade A = primary source (regulator, protocol specification, client code, original author). Grade B = expert secondary source used for explanation only.
- BGlassnode Docs. NUPL (Net Unrealized Profit/Loss), 2026.
- BLook Into Bitcoin. Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL), 2026.
- BCoin Metrics Data Knowledge Base. Valuation (network data definitions), 2026.
- BGlassnode Docs. LTH-NUPL, 2026.
- BGlassnode Docs. STH-NUPL, 2026.
- BGlassnode Insights. Breaking up On-Chain Metrics for Short and Long Term Investors, 2020.
- AEuropean Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA, EIOPA). EU financial regulators warn consumers on the risks of crypto-assets, 2022.
- BGlassnode Docs. Unrealized Profit, 2026.