ARB vs OP
Arbitrum and Optimism scored on the same 25 variables, ranked against the same 251 tokens, with every gap between them shown.
Scoring pass 18 Sept 2026. Market snapshot 7 Oct 2026.
What separates them
ARB scores 134 of 250 and ranks 42nd of 251. OP scores 123 and ranks 56th. ARB leads by 11 points, which is a real gap, though small enough that one variable moving would close much of it. ARB takes 8 of the 25 variables, OP takes 1, and 16 are level.
No single variable separates ARB and OP by as much as 3 points. They are close on the framework's terms, which makes price, liquidity and the supply position below the only grounds for choosing.
Both score 3 or below on Protocol Revenue, Vesting Schedule, Buyback and Burn, Real Staking Yield. A weakness both sides share is not a reason to prefer either. It is a reason to check whether the category itself carries the problem.
ARB is valued at $1.25B against $273.9M for OP, a 4.6x difference. The larger of the two also scores higher, so the market and the framework agree on the ordering here.
All 25 variables, head to head
Both tokens were scored by the same framework in the same pass, so the numbers are directly comparable. What a comparison adds over two separate pages is the gap: a 6 against a 6 is a non-event, a 9 against a 3 is the reason to hold one and not the other.
Cash flow
| Protocol Revenue | 3 | 3 | level | |
| Revenue Trend | 5 | 5 | level | |
| P/S Multiple | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Real Staking Yield | 2 | 2 | level |
Supply
| Supply Inflation | 4 | 2 | ARB +2 | |
| Vesting Schedule | 3 | 2 | ARB +1 | |
| Circulating / FDV Ratio | 5 | 3 | ARB +2 | |
| Buyback and Burn | 3 | 3 | level |
Ownership
| Smart Money Flows | 6 | 6 | level | |
| Insider Selling | 4 | 3 | ARB +1 | |
| Holder Concentration | 5 | 5 | level |
Traction
| TVL Trend | 6 | 5 | ARB +1 | |
| Active Users | 7 | 6 | ARB +1 | |
| Developer Activity | 8 | 8 | level | |
| Network Growth | 7 | 5 | ARB +2 |
Position
| Market Share | 8 | 6 | ARB +2 | |
| Competitive Moat | 5 | 6 | OP +1 | |
| Institutional Adoption | 6 | 6 | level | |
| Exchange Depth | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Social Mindshare | 6 | 6 | level |
Risk
| Regulatory Safety | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Catalyst Calendar | 6 | 6 | level | |
| BTC Alpha Potential | 4 | 4 | level | |
| Team Execution | 7 | 7 | level | |
| Treasury Runway | 6 | 6 | level |
Bars read outward from the centre: ARB to the left, OP to the right. The side that leads a variable is filled. Each score is 1 to 10 against the same definition applied to all 251 rated tokens.
Market and supply
| ARB | OP | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.1840 | $0.1191 |
| Market cap | $1.25B | $273.9M |
| Circulating | 67.9% | 53.5% |
| Dilution to full supply | 1.47x | 1.87x |
| Off all-time high | -92.3% | -97.5% |
| To recover the high | 13x | 40x |
| Total value locked | $2.20B | $780.0M |
| Network | Arbitrum | Optimism |
Price, market cap and all-time high from the CoinGecko snapshot fetched 7 Oct 2026. Supply shares are derived from circulating and eventual supply counts, which do not move with price. The 25 scores come from the research pass dated 18 Sept 2026.
Catalyst and risk on each side
ARB · CAUTIOUS HOLD
BOLD dispute resolution upgrade; Stylus enabling Rust/C++ smart contracts expanding developer base
42% circulating with significant investor releases remaining; sequencer revenue not well-accrued to ARB token holders
OP · CAUTIOUS HOLD
Superchain interoperability connecting Base, Optimism, Zora; sequencer revenue growing
Only 30% circulating; OP Foundation and investor releases through 2027 create persistent sell pressure
Common questions
- Is ARB or OP the better investment?
- On this framework ARB scores higher: 134 against 123 of 250, and it is rated CAUTIOUS HOLD against CAUTIOUS HOLD. That is a ranking of fundamentals as recorded at the last scoring pass, not a price forecast, and ARB still wins 8 of the 25 individual variables against OP.
- What is the biggest difference between ARB and OP?
- Nothing separates them by more than 2 points on any of the 25 variables, which is unusual and means the two are close substitutes on fundamentals.
- Which is bigger, ARB or OP?
- ARB is valued at $1.25B and OP at $273.9M on the latest market snapshot.
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Research and analysis, not investment advice. A higher score is one framework applied consistently to 251 tokens, not a prediction that one asset will outperform the other.