GSR Study Finds Most Token Listings Fall Below Issue Price Within 3 Days

GSR said a study of more than 2,300 token listings on major exchanges since 2013 found that the median listed token fell below its issue price within three days and was down 50% within 90 days. According to ChainCatcher, the dataset included tokens that were later delisted. The report, written by Chief Legal and Strategy Officer Josh Riezman and research analyst Slater Santer, also found that median circulating supply at listing fell from 38% in 2017 to 13% in 2020, and then mostly recovered only to the teens or low 20s in most later years. GSR said median circulating supply declined as initial FDV increased, with tokens below $10 million showing 97% circulating supply at listing, compared with 28% for $10 million to $100 million, 16% for $500 million to $1 billion, and 13% for above $1 billion. Tokens with an initial FDV above $1 billion had a median one-year return of -81%. The report added that tokens with less than 20% circulating supply lost about 75% after one year, while those with 30% to 50% circulating supply lost about 45%. After one year, the median capital retained was about $0.19 for the above-$1 billion FDV group, about $0.23 to $0.26 for tokens with less than 20% circulating supply, and about $0.55 for tokens with 30% to 50% circulating supply.