What Is TVL? Total Value Locked in DeFi Explained
Updated: 2026-10-28 · Türkçe
TVL (total value locked) is the dollar value of assets held in DeFi smart contracts. It is the most common measure of how much a chain or protocol is used. Below is today's chain ranking, followed by how TVL is calculated and read.
TVL by chain today (total $87.65B)
| # | Chain | TVL | Share | 30d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethereum | $45.86B | 52.3% | −14.1% |
| 2 | Bitcoin | $6.19B | 7.1% | +39.0% |
| 3 | Base | $6.04B | 6.9% | −3.1% |
| 4 | Solana | $5.65B | 6.4% | −12.3% |
| 5 | Tron | $5.52B | 6.3% | −2.1% |
| 6 | BSC | $5.52B | 6.3% | −3.5% |
| 7 | Hyperliquid L1 | $2.44B | 2.8% | −7.8% |
| 8 | Arbitrum | $1.50B | 1.7% | +4.8% |
| 9 | Robinhood Chain | $1.13B | 1.3% | +11.7% |
| 10 | Monad | $960.8M | 1.1% | −5.8% |
All chains, largest protocols and 1-year chart → Data: DefiLlama
How is TVL calculated?
Each token amount held in a protocol's contracts is multiplied by its current price and summed: lending deposits, DEX liquidity pools, collateral vaults. A chain's TVL is the sum of its protocols. Aggregators such as DefiLlama use an open-source adapter per protocol.
What does rising TVL mean?
Either new money is deposited or the locked assets' prices rose. Because TVL is in dollars, it rises when ETH or SOL rise even without deposits.
Double counting and limits
The same asset can be counted twice — a liquid staking token deposited into a lending protocol appears in both. Aggregators remove this from chain totals, but summing protocol TVLs does not equal chain TVL. TVL shows usage, not safety or profitability. Educational only, not investment advice.
Free tools
Frequently asked questions
What is TVL?
Total value locked: the dollar value of assets locked in DeFi smart contracts, including deposits, liquidity pools and collateral vaults.
Is a chain with higher TVL better?
It is used more, not necessarily safer or more profitable. TVL also moves with prices.
More guides
- What Is the Funding Rate? How It's Calculated and When It's Paid
- Funding Rate Arbitrage: Reading Cross-Exchange Funding Spreads
- Free Technical Analysis: Charts, 400+ Indicators, Drawing Tools and Alerts
- Run Pine Script Indicators Free (TradingView Code)
- Fibonacci Retracement Strategy: A 3-Year Backtest on 42 Crypto Perps
- Do Liquidation Levels Reverse Price? A Backtest of 124k Sweeps
- What Is Open Interest? How to Read It and Where to Check It
- Liquidation Map (Heatmap) Explained — How to Read It, Free
- Free Crypto Signals (Telegram) — Rule-Based Engine and Public Scorecard
- Free TradingView Alternative: How ByStock Compares (Pine, Alerts, Charts)
- What Is RSI? How to Read the RSI Indicator (30 and 70 Levels)
- What Is MACD? How to Read the MACD Indicator (Crossovers, Histogram)
- Bollinger Bands Explained: How to Read Them (Squeeze, %B)
- Moving Averages Explained: SMA vs EMA, 50- and 200-Day Averages
- What Is a Stablecoin? USDT vs USDC, Types and Risks
- What Is Volatility? How Crypto Volatility Is Calculated and Read