A Nasdaq-100 for crypto
"A Nasdaq for crypto" usually means one thing: a single, widely understood number for the largest assets in the crypto market, built the way the best-known equity benchmarks are built. This page looks at what that requires in practice, how the C100 applies the same ideas to crypto, and where crypto forces the rules to differ.
The C100 is an independent index. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed from Nasdaq, Inc.; the Nasdaq-100 is used here only as a well-known example of an index design.
What makes the Nasdaq-100 a useful model
The Nasdaq-100 tracks 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange. Three features of its design matter for crypto:
- A fixed number of the largest names. The index is defined by size, not by a committee's view of which companies are promising.
- Modified market-cap weighting. Larger companies weigh more, but the methodology limits how much the very largest can weigh. One of its best-known rules, which the C100 adopts with the same thresholds, says that the companies weighing more than 4.5% may not together exceed 48% of the index.
- Scheduled reviews. Weights are reset and membership is reviewed on a published calendar, not whenever someone decides.
Each feature answers a real problem. A size rule keeps the index objective. Caps stop a handful of giants from turning a 100-member index into a three-member one. A calendar makes the index predictable for anyone who follows it.
Why crypto needs the same discipline
The crypto market is far more concentrated than the equity market. At the latest C100 review, Bitcoin alone was 68% of the combined market capitalization of the 100 constituents, and Bitcoin and Ethereum together 80%. A plain market-cap index of 100 crypto assets would mostly be a Bitcoin index with a long tail.
The crypto market also lists many tokens that are not independent assets: stablecoins, wrapped coins, staking receipts and tokenized real-world assets. And trading is spread over hundreds of venues of very different quality.
A Nasdaq-100-style crypto index has to deal with all three problems in its rules, before it calculates anything.
How the C100 applies the same rules
The C100 takes the structure above and translates each piece to crypto.
Size. The index holds the 100 largest eligible assets. The universe is the top 150 by market capitalization after exclusions, on each selection date.
Exclusions. Stablecoins, wrapped and bridged tokens, liquid-staking and restaking receipts, exchange-pegged tokens and tokenized commodities, stocks and funds are removed first, because they track something other than a crypto asset of their own.
Investability screens. In place of an exchange listing requirement, the C100 asks for at least 90 days of price history, a 30-day median daily volume of at least $5 million, and at least 10 market pairs.
Weighting. The C100 uses modified market-cap weighting with three limits:
| Rule | C100 |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin and Ethereum | at most 20% each |
| Every other asset | at most 10% |
| Assets above 4.5% together | at most 48% |
Weight removed by a cap is redistributed to the other assets in proportion to their size. From the December 7, 2026 rebalance, assets outside the capped group are held at 4.4%, following the Nasdaq-100's practice, so that no asset sits exactly at the threshold.
Calendar. Weights reset on the first Monday of every month; membership is reviewed on the first Monday of January, April, July and October.
Buffer. To avoid assets flipping in and out, a member stays while it ranks in the top 120 eligible assets, and a newcomer must reach the top 90.
The effect of the caps today
The caps are not a formality. On the latest data, Bitcoin weighs 14.2% of the C100 and Ethereum 14.6%; the ten largest constituents together make up 68%, and 8 assets had their target weight set by a cap rule at the latest review. Without the caps, Bitcoin alone would be 68% of the index.
This is a deliberate trade-off. A capped index spreads exposure more widely than the market itself, so its results can differ markedly from Bitcoin's in both directions. The comparison below shows how that has worked out since the base date.
| Index or asset | Total return | Annual return | Volatility | Max drawdown | Sharpe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C100 | +685.24% | +35.19% | 72% | -80% | 0.79 |
| C100 Equal Weight | +126.10% | +12.68% | 80% | -91% | 0.56 |
| Bitcoin | +984.97% | +41.73% | 60% | -77% | 0.89 |
| Ethereum | +1677.85% | +52.35% | 80% | -79% | 0.93 |
The C100 has returned +685% since January 6, 2020, against +985% for Bitcoin and +1678% for Ethereum. A full discussion is on crypto index vs Bitcoin.
Where crypto has to differ from equities
Some parts of an equity methodology do not carry over.
- The market never closes. Equity indexes close at the end of a trading day. The C100 uses the value at 00:00 UTC as its daily close and publishes live values about every five minutes in between.
- Market capitalization needs checking. Token supply figures can be unreliable. The C100 ranks by CoinMarketCap's point-in-time ranking, which demotes assets whose supply cannot be verified, so self-reported market caps cannot buy a place.
- Tokens migrate. Projects sometimes replace their token with a new one at a fixed ratio. The C100 converts its units at the published swap ratio, as a holder would, instead of removing and re-adding the asset. Each migration is listed in the governance decision log.
- Assets can fail quickly. An exploit or delisting can make a token untradeable within days. The C100 has an emergency removal process, and any asset with no price for more than 3 days is removed automatically.
Why publishing every rule matters
A benchmark is only useful if people can predict what it will do. When the rules are public, anyone can work out which assets are close to joining or leaving, why a weight changed, and what will happen at the next review. That predictability is what lets an index serve as a common reference, rather than one provider's opinion of the market.
It also limits discretion. The C100's selection and weighting are mechanical; the administrator's judgement is confined to token migrations, emergency removals and data corrections, and each of those decisions is published with its date and reason. A change to the rules themselves is announced in advance: the move to a 4.4% cap for assets outside the scaled group was announced well before it takes effect at the December 7, 2026 rebalance.
Verifiable by design
An index that wants to be a reference needs to be checkable. The C100 publishes the units, prices and divisor behind every daily close, so the level can be recomputed independently on the verify page. Its rules are in the methodology, and every discretionary decision is logged.
The C100 family
The same data and rules produce four variants, which together show how much the design choices matter:
| Index | Design | Level | Since 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| C100 | Flagship: 100 largest eligible crypto assets, modified market-cap weighted. | 7,761.88 | +676.19% |
| C25 | 25 largest eligible crypto assets, modified market-cap weighted. | 8,155.82 | +715.58% |
| C100 Equal Weight | Same constituents as C100, equally weighted. | 2,238.77 | +123.88% |
| C100 ex-BTC | C100 methodology with Bitcoin excluded. | 6,351.96 | +535.20% |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Nasdaq-100 for crypto?
There is no crypto index run by Nasdaq under that name. The C100 is an independent index that applies the same design ideas to crypto: the 100 largest eligible assets, modified market-cap weights with caps, and scheduled reviews.
Why not just weight crypto assets by market cap?
Because Bitcoin would dominate. Without caps, Bitcoin alone would be 68% of the index at the latest review, and the other assets would barely move it. The C100 caps Bitcoin and Ethereum at 20% each and other assets at 10%.
What does the aggregate cap do?
It limits concentration among the largest members: the assets weighing more than 4.5% may not together exceed 48%. When they would, they are scaled down and the freed weight goes to the smaller members.
How often is the C100 reviewed?
Weights reset on the first Monday of every month. Membership is reviewed quarterly, in January, April, July and October. The next review is a rebalance on December 7, 2026.
Is the C100 affiliated with Nasdaq?
No. The C100 is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed from Nasdaq, Inc.
Informational index only. Not investment advice. Not an investable product. This page explains how indexes work and describes the C100's rules and published data; it is not a recommendation. Figures update from the index data; values before the launch date are backtested.