This squeezes the whole vintage profile of the supply into a single number, taking in every coin whether it stirred or not. What it reports is the seasoning stored across the network, not the seasoning leaving it.

That makes it slow, and the slowness is the point. Bending an average taken across every coin in existence takes a large amount of aged supply actually moving, so when this line turns it is making a structural statement rather than reporting a busy day.

What it actually measures

Nothing is left out, with each cohort contributing in proportion to the coin parked there, and the answer arrives in years. Stillness lifts the number, because coin that goes nowhere gets older by a day every day. Seasoned coins trading hands drags it back down again.

Rising age is the accumulation footprint: the network is ageing because supply is not moving. A roll-over is the distribution footprint, where enough old coin is waking to overwhelm the ageing of everything else.

The line rises by default, so up is not a signal

Every coin gains a day of age every day. Left alone the average can only climb, which means a rising line is the resting state of the network rather than something the market did. Reading it as confirmation of anything is reading the passage of time.

What carries information is a line that stops rising, and what carries a great deal is one that turns down. Both states require aged supply to move in enough size to outweigh the entire rest of the supply getting a day older, and that does not happen quietly. A flat stretch is worth more attention than it usually gets.

What it does not tell you

The oldest band is open-ended, so the level is a floor rather than a precise figure. Coins inside it lean old, and the view spreads that bucket across the years available rather than pinning it to a number that would age badly. Direction and position within its own history are unaffected, but do not quote the level to the decimal.

It is also silent on who holds what. Lost coins age exactly as patient holders do, so a network ageing because its owners are disciplined looks identical to one ageing because its keys are gone.

How to read it

Ageing. Nothing much is stirring and the supply keeps getting older, which is the mark of accumulation.

Steady state. The seasoning is holding level, with no wave of trading and no strong pull towards stillness.

Awakening. Ancient coins are stirring and trading hands, which is the mark of distribution.

Read The average age of all coins on the Dormancy dashboard, together with Average Age of Coins Spent, Vaultedness and Supply-Adjusted CDD.

Common questions

What goes into the average?

The entire supply, with each cohort contributing in proportion to the coin parked there, reported in years.

Why is a rise not a signal?

Because every coin ages a day per day. Rising is what the line does when nothing happens, so the informative states are flat and falling.

Why does a turn here carry weight?

Because bending a supply-weighted average takes a lot of aged coin actually moving. A genuine turn is structural rather than a one-day event.

How does it differ from Average Age of Coins Spent?

This weighs every coin, whether or not it moved. That one weighs only what transacted today, so it can jump when a single old wallet moves while this barely registers it.

How reliable is the level itself?

Treat it as a floor. The oldest band is open-ended, so the reading leans conservative. Direction and history are what to work from.