# Mid-Cap AltCoin Crypto Index

#### Purpose

The Synnax Mid-Cap AltCoin Crypto Index is designed to track the aggregate market capitalization of economically independent, non-pegged, non-derivative cryptoassets that sit between the largest incumbents and the long tail. It aims to capture the “mid-cap altcoin” segment: projects with material adoption and liquidity, but without the structural distortions introduced by stablecoins, wrappers, staking receipts, RWAs, or synthetic instruments.

The index is fully deterministically rules-based, transparent, and calculated with a 5 minute resolution using a host of reliable data aggregators and porviders, including our own blockchain data extractors.

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#### 1. Universe Definition

The starting universe consists of **all tokens listed on CoinGecko**.

Each token is classified using a deterministic classifier based on its *economic design and function* (not narrative, hype, or price action). Every token is assigned **exactly one** of the following categories:

* `stablecoin` — assets designed to maintain a stable value (fiat, commodity, or synthetic pegs)
* `wrapped` — tokenized representations of another asset
* `pegged` — non-stable assets explicitly designed to mirror another asset’s price
* `rwa` — tokens whose value is derived from real-world assets (treasuries, bonds, real estate, invoices, equities, gold)
* `lst` — liquid staking tokens or staking receipts (e.g., stETH, rETH)
* `synthetic` — derivatives, synthetics, mirrored assets, risk-engine tokens
* `rebasing` — elastic-supply tokens (AMPL-style)
* `lp` — LP shares, vault tokens, or index-like instruments (e.g., Curve LPs, DPI)
* `none` — economically independent cryptoassets

Only tokens classified as `none` are eligible for inclusion.

Category changes are **hard**: if a token is reclassified into a non-eligible category, it is immediately excluded from the index; vice-versa if a token get reclassified as `none`, it immediately is included in the index (modulo eligibility criteria).

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#### 2. Membership Criteria

A token classified as `none` un the above universe defintion becomes eligible for membership if:

1. Its CoinGecko `market_cap` is **≥ USD 50 million**, and
2. It is **not in the top 10 by market cap** *within the filtered universe* (i.e., after excluding all non-`none` categories).

Both conditions must hold.

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#### 3. Sticky Membership Rules

Index membership is intentionally *sticky* to prevent churn and noise: conditions must reliably hold or not hold for the membership status to change.

* **Inclusion:**\
  A token must satisfy the eligibility criteria **for 100% of all samples over a rolling 7-day window** (7 × 24 × 12 of 5-minute samples, or all available samples within that window if historical resolution is coarser).
* **Exclusion:**\
  A token is removed if it:
  * Falls below USD 50M market cap for the entire 7-day window, or
  * Enters the top 10 (within the filtered universe) for the entire 7-day window.
* **Data staleness handling:**
  * Market cap data may be up to **120 minutes stale** without penalty.
  * If a token’s data is stale beyond 120 minutes, it is temporarily **excluded from the index sum** but **not** removed from membership.
  * If a token remains stale for a full 7-day window, it is **excluded from the index**.

This design ensures continuity while protecting the index from silent data decay.

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#### 4. Index Calculation

The index value at time *t* is the **pure sum** of the market capitalizations of all current index members:

<p align="center"><span class="math">\text{Index}(t) = \sum_{i \in \text{Members}(t)} \text{MarketCap}_i(t)</span></p>

No normalization, weights, or divisor are applied.

The index therefore represents the *total economic footprint* of the mid-cap (as per chosen definition) altcoin segment at any point in time.

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#### 5. Design Rationale

* **Economic purity:** By excluding stablecoins, wrappers, RWAs, LPs, synthetics, and staking receipts, the index reflects *independent crypto networks*, not accounting artifacts or financial overlays.
* **Structural neutrality:** The index is not price-weighted or supply-normalized; it reflects the real capital distribution in the segment.
* **Noise resistance:** Sticky membership prevents short-lived spikes, manipulations, or micro-caps from entering.
* **Continuity:** Temporary data outages do not cause abrupt membership churn.
* **Transparency:** Every rule is deterministic and auditable.

***

#### 6. Data Access

Interested parties can get full access to the detailed index data (both live feed and historic starting from December 2024). If you would like to get access or a data sample, please reach out to us at <contact@synnax.ai>.


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