# Reading a Token’s Unlock Schedule

URL: https://www.xineee.net/token-unlock-schedule/
Published: 2026-10-27T21:21:24+00:00 | Updated: 2026-10-27T21:21:24+00:00
Verified: 2026-10-27

## Quick answer
A token unlock schedule shows when locked supply becomes transferable. Converted to a share of circulating supply, it yields a monthly dilution rate you can compare across projects.

## Summary
A token unlock schedule is a calendar of supply becoming transferable. Read against the float it gives a monthly dilution rate, which is the number that matters.

## FAQ
Q: Does an unlock always push the price down?
A: No. An unlock increases potential supply, not realised selling. Whether price falls depends on how much of the tranche is sold, how deep the market is and whether demand is expanding at the same time. Many unlocks pass with no clear price effect.
Q: What is the difference between circulating and total supply?
A: Circulating supply counts tokens that are transferable and tradable now. Total supply counts everything that will ever exist, including locked, reserved and unissued tokens. Market capitalisation uses the first; fully diluted valuation uses the second.
Q: What is a cliff in a vesting schedule?
A: A cliff is a waiting period before any tokens vest. A twelve-month cliff means nothing is claimable for a year, after which the accrued amount may release at once. Cliffs concentrate supply into discrete dates, which is why they get flagged in calendars.
Q: Why does an unlock date differ from the vesting start?
A: Because vesting accrues continuously while transferability begins later. Tokens can be vested and still locked by contract, and some schedules release on a claim basis, where holders must actively withdraw rather than receiving tokens automatically.
Q: Are staking rewards part of the unlock schedule?
A: Usually not. Emissions to stakers and liquidity providers are new supply rather than released supply, so they appear in an inflation model instead of a vesting table. Both add to the float, and reading only one of them understates dilution.
Q: How far ahead should I look?
A: Twelve months is enough to see every cliff and the shape of the curve after each. Longer horizons help for tokens with back-loaded team vesting, where the largest tranches can sit two or three years out and are invisible in a quarterly view.