Definition. The Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) 🔵 metric maps out the difference between unrealized profit and unrealized loss held within the coin supply, presented as a proportion of the market cap. This chart pairs it with an Adjusted-NUPL (aNUPL) 🟠 variant that discounts Inert Supply (lost or long-dormant coins), shown alongside the inert supply volume itself (faint blue columns) and price (black). The oscillator provides a gauge of relative progress through market cycles, and of extremes in aggregate profitability.

Technical. The standard oscillator is:

NUPL = (Unrealized Profit - Unrealized Loss) / Market Cap = (Market Cap - Realized Cap) / Market Cap

Here, the Supply Last Active 7+ Years Ago is presumed equivalent to Inert Supply. Deducting it from Circulating Supply modifies both the market cap and realized cap components (the realized cap is adjusted by removing coins entering inert status at their last-moved valuation):

aNUPL = ((Market Cap - Inert Supply x Price) - Adjusted Realized Cap) / (Market Cap - Inert Supply x Price)

Interpretation. Reviewing NUPL performance during historical bear markets, NUPL cycle lows can be seen to gradually climb since 2016. A primary driver of this macro trend is the Inert Supply, which heavily weighs on the magnitude of Unrealized Profit — coins that will likely never move accumulate ever-larger paper gains. By discounting these coins, aNUPL restores comparability of cycle extremes across eras: its lows and highs reflect the profitability of supply that actually participates in the market, making threshold crossings more consistent from cycle to cycle.

Notes. This metric was first featured by Glassnode in The Week On-chain newsletter, Week 41 2022. Built from Net Unrealized Profit/Loss, Realized Cap, Supply Last Active 7y-10y and Supply Last Active >10y. The same inert-supply adjustment applied to Percent Supply in Profit is charted in Adjusted Percent Supply in Profit.