Emission is the single most important metric for understanding how a token's supply changes over time. Rather than looking at inflation or deflation in isolation, emission combines both into a net figure that tells you whether released supply is expanding or contracting in a given period. Positive emission means more tokens are entering circulation than being removed — net dilution. Negative emission means burns and buybacks exceed new unlocks — net contraction. Zero emission means the two forces are perfectly balanced. Tokenomist distinguishes between historical and future emission data. Historical emission tracks all inflation (cliff unlocks, linear vesting releases, staking rewards, airdrops) and all deflation (burns, buyback-and-burns) from TGE to the present day. This gives you an accurate record of how supply has actually evolved. Future emission projections include only inflation from known cliff and linear unlock schedules, deliberately excluding burns because burn rates are unpredictable and protocol-dependent. This conservative approach prevents overstating deflation in forward projections. For comparative analysis, emission rates are most useful when normalized — expressed as a percentage of circulating or total supply over a standardized period (monthly, quarterly, annually). A 5% monthly emission rate carries different implications for a $50M market cap token versus a $5B one, but the percentage tells you the dilution velocity regardless of absolute size. Tokenomist's Emission Screener and Emission Comparison tools let you rank and compare tokens by their emission profiles across multiple timeframes.