When looking at a crypto price aggregator like Coingecko or Coinmarketcap, several terms are used to describe crypto tokens.

Coingecko has a methodology page where they explain how they obtain all of their values in detail.

Check the volume section below for useful tools that will aid you in your analysis.

Birth of a digital currency

One of the potential advantages of digital currencies is the ability to control their design before they are released to the market.

At genesis, a cryptocurrency is usually designed with a maximum supply, an emissions or inflation rate that determines the rate at which the max supply will be achieved. The circulating supply (if it wasn't obvious) refers to tokens available for trading. The total supply is the circulating supply plus whatever amount is locked, or staked (or maybe tucked away in cold storage but this is most relevant for BTC Bitcoin), or the initial supply plus the total sum of current emissions.

Some currencies such as Ethereum have an infinite maximum supply, technically they can inflate infinitely. Aspects of token design such as burn mechanisms (e.g. EIP-1559) can be implemented to overcome eternal value dilution.

Once released into the wild (i.e. the market), the digital asset's price will enter a brief mode of price discovery before reverting to equilibrium. In general, the market cap gives a better idea of the potential for growth than the price.

Market capitalization

Crypto coins or tokens can be valued by their market capitalization (market cap or MC), which is defined as the total value of all the coins that have been mined. As a general rule of thumb:

Blue chip: MC > $1 billion

Altcoin: $1 billion < MC < $10 million

Shitcoin: MC < $10 million

Yes, this is the industry where terms like shitcoin are used seriously. These brackets are likely to change in the future as the industry grows. The total market cap of crypto is currently just over $1 trillion.

Market cap can be thought of as the consequence of the price and the circulating supply (CS).

Market cap = circulating supply * price

and hence:

MC/CS = price

Market cap is directly proportional to the price, whereas circulating supply is inversely proportional to the price.

Speaking of price...

On websites such as dexscreener or coinbrain you can see the individual buys and sells along with their time stamps and contract addresses. Be sure to watch high liquidity pairs to get a full picture of what's driving the price action, don't just look at a given asset paired with a stablecoin. Checking the right pairs can show you when money is rapidly flowing into or out of an asset, helping you better time exit or entry.

TVL

For defi protocols, total value locked or TVL signifies protocol utilization and is the major metric for protocol valuation. Again staking or locking mechanisms can skew the significance of the value. Websites such as Defillama allow you to view the TVL with and without staking.

The MC:TVL ratio, or MC/TVL value can give an idea of current asset valuation.

When MC/TVL ratio is high, the asset can be considered overpriced.

Vice versa when the MC/TVL ratio is low, the asset can be considered undervalued.

FDV

The fully diluted valuation (FDV) is the implied market cap of an asset when if max supply were circulating. While many digital assets are still currently inflating, this valuation can show the asset's potential for growth, given its current level of engagement.

Similarly to market cap:

FDV = max supply * price

Total supply is used where max supply is invalid (e.g. with infinite max supply).

Firstly remember that cryptocurrencies can be lost or rendered inaccessible, so the real total supply is usually lower than the hard-coded max supply.

Secondly, be wary of values quoted for very low market cap assets, as well as websites like DexScreener. While useful for tracking the prices of small-cap assets, the values quoted on these websites are often incorrect.

The ratio of FDV:TVL or FDV/TVL can be used to approximate a protocol's fully diluted market value compared to the amount of assets that are staked or locked, with values over 1 indicating that the FDV is greater than the TVL, and hence room for growth, but I would avoid making decisions based on this ratio alone.

For example, the BTC cryptocurrency network currently has no defi, generally BTC cannot be locked up (it can be sent to cold storage). Technically the TVL for BTC is 0, so the metric is meaningless for BTC.

In contrast, an asset such as Polygon, which features extensive staking, currently has an FDV/TVL ratio of 1.43, indicating a greater FDV. 

Volume

As for volume I find it a pain to monitor and interpret on price candlestick charts, so I use the Kyberswap tool called 'Trending Soon.' This tool can also give you an idea of when an asset is preparing for a pamp (my bags ser) or dump! It uses on-chain data, volume and price trends to make its predictions.

Use the tool to get an idea of how price can move in relation to volume.

Blockpour also has a tool in it's token section. Choose the chain you are interested in and the highest trading tokens will be revealed.

Conclusion

Use these tools together to make asset valuations, try to focus on the long term. Not financial advice, but despite the recent price pump, now is a good time to pick winners, allocate funds and make a plan for entry and exit.

Don't forget to factor in emissions schedule and unlocks when making the decision to ape into a project.