In the crypto world, it seems like exchanges get most of the credit. Sure, this is where you buy crypto, but how do you track it? Crypto is money, but knowledge is power, and CoinMarketCap has all the information you could want.

So, what is CoinMarketCap, and how does it work?

What Is CoinMarketCap

CoinMarketCap is a free service with many features you can use without creating an account. How is this possible? You can't buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies through CoinMarketCap. Instead, the platform is a hub for data on prices, trading volumes, and other metrics for thousands of cryptocurrencies and hundreds of exchanges.

The platform is accessible through a web interface as well as through lightweight free apps.

Download: CoinMarketCap for iOS | Android (Free)

What Can You Do With CoinMarketCap?

The CoinMarketCap homepage is a live price ticker of thousands of cryptocurrency coins and tokens listed in order of market cap. As a rule, Bitcoin and Ethereum are always the top two (due to their market capitalization), but below that, projects shuffle around, making the homepage itself a living record of the crypto industry.

Scroll through this page to check prices at a glance, or click an individual coin to get live, reactive price charts, details about projects, glances at what people are saying on social media, and more.

From the homepage, click the pancake menu at the top of the page to reveal a dropdown menu and select Products. Here, there are a number of different buttons, all worth exploring. But, the two that you should really know about are the crypto converter tool and the blockchain explorer.

The conversion tool is handy but doesn't require much explanation: it gives the conversion rates of cryptocurrency coins and tokens to different fiat currencies or other coins and tokens. A blockchain explorer is a tool for searching blockchains that can be used for, among other things, verifying cryptocurrency transactions.

How (and Why) to Create a CoinMarketCap Account

Everything discussed so far can be accessed through the web interface or on the app, all without creating an account. You may be wondering, why bother creating an account if you can do all this without an account and you can't buy, sell, trade, or store cryptocurrency with CoinMarketCap anyway?

Depending on your relationship with cryptocurrencies, you may not need an account. But, you can personalize the information you get at a glance through CoinMarketCap with an account.

An account allows this personalized information to be stored just for you. It also keeps the information safe. Information about your portfolio isn't as sensitive as the portfolio itself, but it's still sensitive.

Because it's not the coins themselves, you don't need the codes and keys you may be used to from crypto wallets; a standard email and password will do.

Tools for CoinMarketCap Account Holders

The most important tools available to account holders are the Watchlist and Portfolio features. Both are accessible from buttons just above the ticker on the main page.

The Watchlist collects crypto projects that you're interested in and arranges their charts on one easy-to-read page. These don't have to be projects that you're invested in, just that you're interested in or curious about.

The portfolio feature allows you to enter all of your crypto holdings, even across multiple different wallets, so that you can see at a glance how much you have invested in what projects. You can also change the amount by recording purchases and sales. These transactions aren't stored, so it isn't a lasting trading journal, but it helps you keep track.

Stay on Top of the Charts

CoinMarketCap isn't a marketplace or exchange, but don't let that stop you from looking into it. It's just as important as any tool in owning cryptocurrency but also understanding cryptocurrency.