What is Tether (USDT)?
Tether (USDT) is the oldest and largest stablecoin - a token whose value is pegged to one US dollar and backed by an off-chain reserve of cash, Treasuries and equivalents. Issued by Tether Holdings, it has been the dominant dollar-denominated asset in crypto since 2015 and is by far the most-traded asset across all major exchanges.
USDT exists natively on more than a dozen chains, including Ethereum (ERC-20), Tron (TRC-20), Solana, Avalanche and Arbitrum. The Tron version in particular is the default settlement asset for a huge portion of global remittances inside the crypto economy.
How does Tether maintain its peg?
Tether maintains its peg through a straightforward issuance and redemption mechanism: verified institutions mint new USDT by depositing dollars into Tether's treasury, and can redeem USDT for dollars at par. Arbitrageurs take advantage of any deviation from $1 on exchanges to close the gap almost immediately.
Tether publishes quarterly attestations of its reserves and a real-time transparency page showing the total outstanding supply across chains. Its reserves consist primarily of short-duration US Treasury bills, repo and cash, which generate substantial interest income that funds ongoing operations and buybacks.
What is Tether used for?
USDT is the unit of account for most of global crypto trading. Almost every major exchange lists its markets in USDT pairs, and OTC desks quote prices in USDT to avoid the friction of wiring dollars through banks. It is also the dominant on-ramp for emerging markets - users buy USDT locally to gain access to dollar-denominated savings or to move money across borders.
Inside DeFi, USDT underwrites a large share of lending collateral, liquidity pools and leverage positions. Its dominance in stablecoin supply also makes it a key macro variable: sharp increases in USDT issuance are often read as capital flowing into the crypto economy.
Where can you buy Tether?
Tether (USDT) is traded on a wide range of centralized and decentralized exchanges. The most liquid markets for USDT sit on tier-1 venues - the sort of exchanges where institutional desks and professional market makers rebalance continuously - which is what keeps the spread tight and the last price tied closely to fair value.
You can open the Markets section above to see the live list of exchanges quoting USDT, sorted by 24-hour volume. Each row links to the venue's trade page so you can go directly from research to execution without copying the ticker around by hand.
What is the daily trading volume of Tether (USDT)?
The reported 24-hour trading volume of Tether is $69.21B. Volume is a live reading of how much USDT changed hands across all tracked exchanges in the past day and tends to rise during periods of price discovery and fall during consolidation.
For traders, the ratio between volume and market cap is often more informative than either number on its own: a high vol-to-mcap ratio indicates liquid, actively traded supply, while a low ratio suggests that most holders are sitting on the asset.
What is the highest and lowest price for Tether (USDT)?
Tether reached an all-time high of $1.32 on July 24, 2018, and an all-time low of $0.5725 on March 2, 2015. It is currently trading -24.45% from its peak and +74.60% from its bottom.
The distance from ATH is a useful gauge of recovery potential during a bear market and of stretched positioning during a bull market. Combined with the all-time-low figure it provides a quick statistical frame for thinking about where USDT sits in its long-run price range.
What is the market cap of Tether (USDT)?
Tether's market capitalization is currently $189.68B, and it is ranked #3 by market cap on Cryptopricing. Market cap is calculated as the current price multiplied by the circulating supply (189.72 billion USDT are actively circulating today).
Market cap is a common but imperfect measure. It reflects the theoretical value of every circulating token at the current market price, but it doesn't capture how thin the top of the order book might be - an important caveat for tokens with low floats or illiquid cap tables.
What is the fully diluted valuation of Tether (USDT)?
The fully diluted valuation (FDV) of Tether is $195.15B. FDV is a projection of what the market cap would be if every token that will ever exist - including those that have not yet been unlocked, mined or issued - were in circulation at the current price.
FDV is a useful second reading alongside market cap. A large gap between mcap and FDV signals that future token emissions could dilute current holders, while a small gap indicates that supply is already mostly out.
How does the price performance of Tether compare against its peers?
Over the past 24 hours, Tether has moved -0.00%. Over the past seven days, the change is +0.02%. Comparing these figures to the global crypto market cap change (shown in the ticker at the top of this page) tells you whether USDT is leading, lagging or tracking the broader market.
For deeper analysis, the categories strip on the home page groups coins by theme - Layer 1, Meme, DePIN, AI, RWA and so on - and lets you compare Tether against its closest peers. The category detail pages surface the underlying coins and their seven-day sparklines in a single view.
How to store Tether?
Like any crypto asset, the right way to store USDT depends on how often you plan to use it. Long-term holders typically self-custody using a hardware wallet such as Ledger or Trezor, which keeps private keys offline and immune to most remote attacks.
For active traders, a reputable custodial exchange wallet can be appropriate, especially one with clear proof-of-reserves attestations. Whatever approach you choose, the most important rule is to keep your recovery phrase offline, never share it, and never enter it into a web form or attached to a DM - no legitimate support agent will ever ask for it.
