CoinMarketCap will list your token for free. It might take days. It might take months, and CoinMarketCap's own help page says the free route can run to "years". Or you can pay $5,000 and get an answer in about one business day. The $5,000 buys speed. It doesn't buy approval, and if the answer is no, the money stays with them.

What follows is the process as CoinMarketCap describes it on its help pages, updated in late September 2026, plus the places founders lose time and money.

You might already be on CoinMarketCap

Most tokens never apply. CoinMarketCap says "the majority of assets are now listed automatically" from on-chain data through DexScan, which tracks more than 52 million tokens. If your token has a pool on a decentralized exchange, it probably has a DexScan page already. Search your contract address on CoinMarketCap before you do anything else.

That automatic page is the bottom of four levels:

  • Unverified. An automatic DEX pair page. It may be missing your name, logo and links.
  • Verified. Someone at CoinMarketCap has reviewed it.
  • Preview or Untracked. You don't meet the rules yet, but the project "exhibits strengths".
  • Tracked. You meet the rules and get a CoinMarketCap rank. This is what founders mean when they say "listed".

The four rules for a tracked listing

CoinMarketCap's criteria page sets four guidelines:

  1. The project uses crypto or blockchain technology.
  2. It has a "functional website and block explorer".
  3. It trades on at least one exchange that CoinMarketCap already tracks, "with material volume".
  4. Someone from the project is available to answer CoinMarketCap's questions.

Meeting all four guarantees nothing. The team also weighs volume, community, the people behind the project and real traction. There's no published minimum for volume, trading pairs or holders, so anyone quoting you a number made it up.

What the form asks for

The request form is the only way in. CoinMarketCap says so in capital letters, so don't email or DM them. You don't need a CoinMarketCap account, just an email address. For a new token, choose form 1, "[New Listing] Add cryptoasset". Have this ready before you open it:

  • Name, ticker, category tags and a one-line tagline
  • A 450 to 600 word description of the project, factual and in the third person
  • The chain, the contract address and the number of decimals
  • A 200 by 200 pixel logo, PNG, with a transparent background
  • Your website, X account and a community chat link such as Telegram
  • Circulating supply and max supply
  • Links and screenshots of your trading pairs on exchanges CoinMarketCap supports
  • Your role in the project, the launch date, the country, the team and your traction so far

The description is where most applications look weak. Write it the way a reporter would, about what the project does and what's live today. Leave out "revolutionary" and anything about price. If you want a model, our crypto press release format uses the same plain third-person style.

The proof post

After you submit, post from an official account that your website links to. Quote your CoinMarketCap ticket number and your DexScan link. Don't tag CoinMarketCap in it. The form tells you not to, because scammers watch those tags and go after the founders who used them.

Free, or $5,000

The free route has no clock. CoinMarketCap says it gives priority to requests with "strong industry interest/traction" and that results "range from days to months/years".

The paid route is called CMC Priority. A coin listing or update costs $5,000, with an estimated answer about 24 business hours after your payment clears. An exchange listing costs $50,000. A pilot program can get some coins live in under two hours if they already trade on a ranked decentralized exchange, and it works best on Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain.

Read the fine print before you pay:

  • Payment doesn't guarantee a listing. It's "subject to (i) technical feasibility and (ii) verification".
  • CoinMarketCap only sends an invoice once it has checked it can meet the deadline.
  • "Any payment is non-refundable and non-transferable."
  • Nobody can pay for rank changes, and that includes circulating supply.
  • The money has to come from a "clean wallet".

CoinGecko runs the same model for less. Its Fast Pass is $1,000 for a reply within 24 hours, and that isn't approval either. Our CoinGecko listing guide walks through it. Most projects apply to both.

The people offering to do it for you

Launch a token and within a week someone will DM you offering a guaranteed CoinMarketCap listing for a fee. CoinMarketCap says it does "not sanction any external service to assist in the listing application". It keeps a public "Hall of Shame" of named middlemen, and it blacklists and delists projects caught bribing staff. Its people "won't DM first" and "will never ask for... direct payment". Emails from addresses that look like team@coinmarketcap.com don't come from CoinMarketCap. If someone claims to work there, check them on the official Telegram, t.me/CoinMarketCap, and report fakes to report@coinmarketcap.com.

I've spent 18 years in PR, and that pitch never changes. Somebody you can't check wants money up front for a result nobody can honestly promise. The official form costs nothing.

If you're rejected

CoinMarketCap doesn't have to tell you why. The form's terms say it "is not obligated to inform me or provide any reasons". Don't fire off the same request again, because duplicates can get a project blacklisted. Fix what was thin, usually volume on a tracked exchange or a vague description, and apply once more when the fix is real.

After you're listed

Keep the page accurate. Form 7 updates links and project details, form 4 updates supply figures, and form 8 signs you up for the self-reporting dashboard. Once you're listed, an email on your project's own domain and a 400 by 400 logo get you the blue Verified badge on CoinMarketCap Community, where holders will look for you.

A listing puts you on the map. People still have to hear about you, and that's the job of coverage. It's what our PR packages are for.

Questions founders ask

Is it free to get listed on CoinMarketCap?

Yes. The request form costs nothing. The optional CMC Priority service costs $5,000 for a coin. It gets you a faster answer with no promise of approval, and the fee isn't refundable.

How long does a CoinMarketCap listing take?

On the free route, anywhere from days to months, and CoinMarketCap gives no deadline. With CMC Priority the estimate is about 24 business hours after payment, and a pilot program can put some DEX-traded coins live in under two hours.

How much trading volume do I need?

CoinMarketCap doesn't publish a number. It asks for trading on at least one tracked exchange "with material volume" and judges traction case by case.

Can I pay someone to get my token listed?

You can pay CoinMarketCap itself through CMC Priority. CoinMarketCap says it doesn't authorize any outside service to help with listings, so treat anyone selling a guaranteed listing as a scam.