Investor Cap
Realized cap minus thermocap (miner revenue). Represents the cumulative capital invested by non-miner market participants. The AVIV ratio uses investor cap as its denominator.
What is it?
Investor Cap subtracts Thermocap (value paid to miners) from total Realized Cap. The reasoning: miners receive BTC as rewards (not as investments), so their cost basis is not representative of 'invested' capital. By excluding them, Investor Cap more precisely measures the value actually invested by market participants. It is a 'purified' version of Realized Cap.
How to read
Interpretation similar to Realized Cap but structurally lower. The Market Cap / Investor Cap ratio is an 'investor MVRV' isolating latent profit/loss of investors only, excluding miners' structural profit.
Key zones
Zones are similar to MVRV but with higher ratios (since the denominator is smaller). Investor Cap represents approximately 70-85% of Realized Cap depending on cycle phase.
What to observe
The gap between Realized Cap and Investor Cap measures miners' share of the network's 'cost basis.' A growing gap in percentage means miners received a disproportionate share of value (high hashrate + high price).
Historical context
Investor Cap was proposed to correct Realized Cap overestimation in valuation analyses. Its use gained popularity with the increase in hashrate and block reward value.
Expert notes
Miner exclusion is approximate as we don't know when a miner 'becomes an investor' (is a miner who keeps BTC for 2 years still a miner?). Investor Cap is a useful but imperfect conceptual compromise.
Common mistakes to avoid
Investor Cap does not exclude ALL miners - only their initial cost basis (the block reward). If a miner sells then buys back later as an investor, that repurchase IS included in Investor Cap.
Programmatic access
REST API
curl -sS \
'https://api.trinityinsights.io/api/v1/onchain/investor-cap/history?days=90' \
-H 'X-API-Key: $TRINITY_API_KEY'MCP server
{
"tool": "get_chart_value",
"metric_id": "investor-cap",
"timeframe": "1y"
}Required tier: pro. See the pricing grid for the tier list and the MCP documentation for multi-client configuration.
Related metrics
Institutional disclaimer
Trinity Insights is an educational and analytical tool. The metric above does not constitute investment advice. Trinity Insights is not a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) registered under MiCA Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. See the full disclaimer.