GGlossary · 2 min read

What is TVL?

TVL is the value of assets held inside a chain's contracts right now. What it counts, what it misses, and why two trackers report two numbers.

310 words · about 2 minutes·Article updated 20 August 2026
Definition

Total value locked (TVL) is the dollar value of every asset sitting inside a chain's or a protocol's contracts at one moment. On Robinhood Chain it is pending, as reported by DeFiLlama. TVL measures deposits, not quality, ownership, or how long anything stays.

TVL is price times quantity, so it moves when prices move even if nobody deposits or withdraws anything. If the assets in a pool double in price overnight and every position stays where it is, TVL doubles. Trackers also count different contracts — pools, bridges, staking, lending — so two sites can publish two honest numbers for the same chain on the same day, which is why the figure above names its source.

The "locked" in total value locked does not mean a liquidity lock. It means deposited, and depositors can usually withdraw whenever they like.

A lock guarantees exactly one thing: the pool cannot be withdrawn before the release date. Not the price, not the team, not the token. A locked pool can still fall.
Where you'll see it on Locksley

Chain-level TVL appears on Robinhood Chain by the numbers with its source named. What matters for a token you are about to trade is one level down: the depth of its own liquidity pool, shown on its token page and filterable in the screener. For why this chain's liquidity sits where it does, read where Robinhood Chain's liquidity lives.

Frequently asked questions

Is TVL the same as market cap?

No. Market cap multiplies a token's supply by its last traded price, so it is an estimate of what the whole supply would notionally be worth. TVL counts assets actually deposited in contracts. A token can carry a large market cap and a shallow pool, which is why a modest sell can move its price hard. Market cap vs liquidity works through the gap.

FiguresEvery number on this page is frozen at the date printed beside it and refreshed when the page is rebuilt — not live. The sentences reason about the figures, so a value that changed underneath them would make the prose wrong. Live values live on Explore and the pages it links out to. Methodology →
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Who wrote thisWritten and maintained by the Locksley editorial team. Locksley is built by TrustSwap, which also owns Team Finance — the tool linked above.