The Bitcoin universe is vast, and there’s a lot going on with the network under the hood. Luckily for bitcoiners, there’s a wide variety of monitoring tools available online to capture the statistics of the Bitcoin network’s past and present data. Some cryptocurrency proponents even try to use monitoring website statistics to help predict the future.
Also read: An Introduction to Bitcoin Trading and Technical Charts
Monitoring the Bitcoin Network
Today we’re going to discuss the many sites across the web that offer Bitcoin network statistical data. Many of these online tools are useful to track and chart the protocols daily action as well as give answers to questions concerning the cryptocurrency’s behavior. This includes various blockchain explorers, node counters, and many more interesting analytical tools that provide a different perspective on the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Blockchain Explorers
Blockchain explorers are useful to Bitcoin users as they help identify all the transactions that take place since the inception of the cryptocurrency’s distributed ledger. In the early days there were only a few blockchain explorers in existence but now there’s a lot as the Bitcoin environment has grown.
Blockchain.info
Blockchain otherwise known as Blockchain.info is one of the oldest blockchain explorers to date. Using blockchain’s website users can enter a bitcoin address to view its contents, transaction identifiers, and more to get visibility to all the transactions within the network. Blockchain will give you information on the fee paid per transaction, the block height the transaction was included in, how many confirmations took place, and more.
Blockchain.info also has a vast amount of statistics and charts on the website. Bitcoiners can visualize block details, mining data, currency statistics, and various network activity. The most popular stats on Blockchain’s website include the price per BTC, average block size, the daily transaction count, and the mempool size.
OXT
Another interesting blockchain explorer is the “open exploration tool” (OXT), an exploratory blockchain analysis tool. Just like any other blockchain explorer OXT can display transactions happening on the Bitcoin network. However, the website also analyzes different types of behavior on the Bitcoin blockchain using various charting and plotting tools. This includes temporal charts covering fees, transactions, scripts, and more. OXT also offers scatter plots as well giving a different perspective on transaction and bitcoin address behavior.
Other popular blockchain explorers that provide similar transaction data and some charts include Blockcypher, Insight, Blocktrail, and Sochain. Each explorer shows blockchain data a little differently but more or less contains the same information about transactions.
Network Statistics Charts and Plotting Tools
Statoshi.info
The website Statoshi.info has a lot of real-time Bitcoin network statistics. The website’s individual dashboards show node counts, bandwidth usage, fee estimates, system metrics, mempool data and more. Statoshi.info has been around for a few years now, and each dashboard display shows various charts that analyzes particular sections of the network and protocol’s behavior.
Bitcoin Wisdom
Bitcoin Wisdom is also another charting website that’s been around for quite some time. The website’s price charts are one of the most popular sections within the web portal. Bitcoin Wisdom’s price charts display various exchanges including Bitstamp, BTCC, Kraken, Bitfinex and more. Furthermore, Bitcoin Wisdom also shows other statistical data such as network difficulty, and the past and present hashrate.
Tradeblock
Another website that reports statistical Bitcoin network data includes Tradeblock. The Tradeblock engine offers a wide variety of graphical charts displaying both historical and current Bitcoin statistics. The website’s interface displays the mempool count, blocks mined, transaction count, and many more useful network diagrams. Tradeblock also monitors the Ethereum blockchain and has its own blockchain explorers as well.
Blockseer
Blockseer is another exploratory blockchain tool that wants users to “follow the bitcoin.” The tool shows a visual interpretation of transactions on the network alongside the connections each transaction has with individual addresses. The site traces bitcoin origins and follows the path of bitcoins traveling throughout the blockchain using a visual diagram.
Websites That Track Nodes
Node Counter
Node Counter is an analytical website that tracks Bitcoin nodes throughout the network. This includes Bitcoin Classic, Bitcoin Unlimited (BU), XT, and Core nodes in a graphical setting. Each table shows various nodes within the network alongside pools signaling alternate Bitcoin clients and block size proposals. Node counter displays data using both line graphs and pie charts as well.
Bitnodes
21 Inc’s Bitnodes is another popular node tracking website that displays various charts and graphs concerning Bitcoin network nodes. The site gives a current network snapshot and also a search engine to check on node status. Bitnodes also displays Classic, BU, Core, and XT nodes within the network.
Coin Dance
Last but not least in the node counting realm is the website Coin Dance which shows various summaries and charts concerning nodes across the network. The graphical interface also charts the different node implementations like Core and XT with many types of charts. Furthermore, Coin Dance is a popular site for many other statistics such as Localbitcoins and Paxful volumes, and even charts on political opinions in regards to Segregated Witness, Emergent Consensus, and the most recent UASF (BIP 148) support from well-known industry businesses.
Visualizing the Bitcoin Network, Just Got a Whole Lot Easier
All of these monitoring websites offer a different view of the network, and each one has various merits depending on what you’re looking for. The information these tools provide can improve our relationship with the network by getting a better understanding of what’s going on. A graphical display is sometimes a better method for people interpreting network activity and the protocols behavior.
Bitcoin.com also has a tool section and various statistical information that can be found on our website as well. Using our transaction value lookup tool simply add a bitcoin transaction TXID and find it’s price in the past. For those who are extremely passionate about the subject of Bitcoin, there’s plenty of statistics and information to gather each and every day.
What monitoring sites do you use? Are there any sites not mentioned above that you enjoy? Let us know in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, and all the websites mentioned above.
The Bitcoin universe is vast. So is Bitcoin.com. Check our Wiki, where you can learn everything you were afraid to ask. Or read our news coverage to stay up to date on the latest. Or delve into statistics on our helpful tools page.
