Navigate the workspace
Search wallets, tokens and contracts, switch chains, and understand how the main dashboards are laid out.
Tool tutorial · Education
Nansen: how it works and how to use it
Nansen is an onchain analytics platform: it indexes public blockchain data across many networks and turns it into dashboards, wallet labels and an AI assistant. This tutorial walks through the main views and workflows, so you can read the data yourself, step by step.
Educational guide — not financial advice. No promises about outcomes.
01 What it is
What Nansen is
In one line: Nansen turns raw chain data into dashboards, labels and search, so you can inspect what happened onchain yourself.
Nansen is a blockchain analytics platform. It reads public onchain data — transactions, token transfers, contract interactions — across 25+ networks, and organises that data into searchable dashboards. Wallet addresses are grouped under labels, tokens get their own pages, and flows between wallets can be filtered by label, chain and time window.
You use it to answer factual questions about onchain activity: which addresses hold a token, where value moved during a period, how an address has behaved over time, and which contracts it uses. It is a reading and research tool — it does not execute trades, hold funds or manage a portfolio for you. This guide covers the interface and its caveats, not any market outcome.
02 Skills
What you'll learn
By the end of this guide you should be able to move around the platform without guessing, and read its main views with the right caveats in mind.
Read labels and netflow
Understand how wallet labels are assigned, what a cohort means, and what a netflow figure does and does not show.
Profile an address
Review balances, recent activity, counterparties and labels for any public address with the Wallet Profiler.
Ask better AI questions
Write precise prompts, ask for the data behind an answer, and verify the result in the underlying view.
03 Preparation
Before you start
Five things worth checking before you create an account or start exploring the data.
Account and workspace
A free Nansen account is enough to follow this walkthrough. Sign up with an email at the official app domain. No wallet connection is required to read dashboards; some features may vary by region, so check the official terms.
Supported chains
Coverage varies by product and changes over time. Use the chain selector inside each dashboard to see which networks are currently indexed, and don't assume a token will appear on every chain.
Plan tiers and limits
Search limits, saved alerts, AI usage and API access depend on your tier. Paid plans carry a subscription cost, so read the official plan comparison before committing to one.
Data caveats
Labels are inferred, indexers can lag, and not every contract or chain is covered. Treat every number as a pointer to the underlying transactions, not as a conclusion.
Official sources only
Bookmark nansen.ai and docs.nansen.ai. Type the domain yourself instead of following links from messages, adverts or social posts — lookalike sites are a common phishing pattern.
04 Walkthrough
Step by step
Seven steps from a new account to reading a token page and asking a grounded question. Work through them in order — each step builds on the previous one. Interface panels are CSS illustrations with DEMO DATA.
Create an account and open the workspace
Go to app.nansen.ai and sign up with an email. The first screen is the dashboard: a global search field, a chain selector and shortcuts into the main areas. The free tier is enough for this walkthrough.
TipOpen the official documentation in a second browser tab so you can compare terminology as you go.
Learn the navigation before changing filters
Search accepts wallet addresses, token names and tickers. The left rail switches between dashboards, while the top bar holds the chain filter and your account menu. Every dashboard follows the same shape: filters at the top, a table or chart in the middle, and a detail panel when you click a row.
TipSpend five minutes opening each area with default settings before you filter anything. It is easier to learn the layout when the numbers are not changing.
Read Smart Money labels and netflow views
Smart Money is a label group the platform applies to addresses whose observed behaviour matches patterns it tracks: sustained activity over time, early participation in tokens, repeated contract use. It describes past behaviour, not future outcomes, and it is not a recommendation.
The netflow view calculates the difference between value moving in and value moving out for a selected token or group of wallets over a time window. Positive netflow means more value arrived than left during that period; it does not explain why the move happened.
TipOpen the addresses behind a cohort before drawing conclusions. A label is a shortcut into the data, not a summary of it.
Illustrative values for teaching. Not live platform data.
- ETHSmart Money+$1.24M
- SOLSmart Money+$840K
- ARBFunds−$320K
- USDCMarket makers+$410K
Netflow = value in − value out over the selected window. Labels and values are illustrative.
Profile any wallet address
Paste an address into search and open the Wallet Profiler. The page summarises balances, recent activity, counterparties and any labels attached to the address, and it can generate a plain-language summary of what the address does.
Read the labels as descriptions, then check the transactions they are based on. An address labelled as a fund may still behave like anything else on a given day.
TipCopy the full address from a chain explorer rather than from a screenshot, so you profile the exact contract or wallet you intended to.
0x3f8a…9a2c
Smart Money
- Balances
- 42.6 ETH · 118,400 USDC
- Activity, 30d
- 214 transactions
- First seen
- Mar 2022
- Counterparties
- Uniswap · Aave · Coinbase
AI summary: an active DeFi address; most interactions are token swaps and lending deposits.
Illustrative values for teaching. Not live platform data.
Inspect token metrics in the token explorer
Search a token to open its page: contract details, holders, concentration, transfers and recent activity. Read the metrics together — a single number rarely explains a token, and a large transfer may be an internal move rather than a market event.
Cross-check the contract address against the project's own documentation before you rely on anything, and note the time zone used by any chart you read.
TipWrite down which metric answers which question. Holder count, concentration and transfer volume answer very different things.
Create alerts on wallets and tokens
Alerts watch conditions you define, such as activity from a saved wallet or a threshold move in a token. Choose a delivery channel where available — in-app, email or Telegram — and set a threshold that produces a useful number of notifications rather than constant noise.
TipStart with one alert. After a day, tighten or relax the threshold based on how often it fired, not on how it made you feel.
Ask the AI assistant good questions
The assistant answers questions about indexed onchain data. Ask for facts, counts and comparisons, and name the chain, entity and time window. Ask it to show the data it used, then check that data in the referenced dashboard.
Prompts that tend to work well: how many unique wallets held a token on each of the last seven days; what share of supply sits in the top ten wallets; which contracts an address interacted with this month. Avoid prompts that ask for predictions or trade decisions — it is a data tool, and answers can be incomplete.
TipIf an answer cannot point to data, rewrite the prompt. An answer without a source is a starting point, not a result.
Which wallets moved the most ETH into this token in the last 7 days?
Answer
Three wallets account for the largest net inflows: 1,240 ETH across 14 transactions. 62% of that arrived in the last 48 hours. Two wallets carry a Smart Money label; the third is unlabelled.
14 transactions
7-day window
3 wallets
Check: open the token page and confirm the 14 transactions before relying on this answer.
The interface panels above are illustrations, not screenshots of the live product. Screens and field names change; the official documentation is the reference.
05 Glossary
Key terms, in plain language
Five terms you will meet on almost every screen, explained without jargon.
- Smart Money labelLabel group
- A group label assigned to addresses whose observed onchain behaviour matches patterns the platform tracks. It is an inferred classification that can change, not an endorsement or a prediction.
- Wallet labelAttribution
- A tag on an address describing what the platform infers it to be: an exchange, a fund, a contract or a behavioural group. Labels are useful index shortcuts and should always be checked against the address's actual transactions.
- NetflowFlow measure
- The difference between value moving into and out of a token or group of wallets over a chosen window. Positive netflow means more value arrived than left during that period; it does not explain why.
- Token metricsToken page data
- The numbers shown on a token page: holders, concentration, transfers, age and contract details. Each metric answers a narrow question, so read several together.
- AI promptAssistant input
- The question you give the assistant. Precise prompts name the chain, the entity and the time window, and ask for the data behind the answer.
06 Safety
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
Four habits that keep an analytics session honest. Each one is a mistake paired with a correction.
Mistake 01
Treating labels as advice
A label describes observed behaviour. It does not tell you what an address will do next, and it is not a recommendation to act.
Do this instead: use the label to find addresses worth inspecting, then read their transactions and counterparties.
Mistake 02
Over-reading a single flow
One large transfer can be an internal move, an exchange deposit or a contract interaction. The direction alone rarely explains the transaction.
Do this instead: widen the time window and check the counterparties before you describe what happened.
Mistake 03
Using lookalike sites or links from DMs
Phishing pages copy product interfaces closely. A message promising access, support or early features is a common way to move you onto one.
Do this instead: type nansen.ai, app.nansen.ai or docs.nansen.ai yourself. Never enter a seed phrase or private key — no analytics product needs one.
Mistake 04
Treating stale or partial data as complete
Indexers lag and coverage varies by chain. A figure can be accurate for what was indexed while still being incomplete for the question you are asking.
Do this instead: check the timestamp and chain coverage, then confirm important numbers against a block explorer or a second source.
07 Tiers
Plans at a glance
A factual summary of what each tier generally covers. Tier names, limits and pricing change frequently, so treat this as orientation rather than a quote.
Free
For checking the basics
- Core dashboards and token pages
- Limited Smart Money searches
- A small number of saved alerts
Pioneer
For individual analysts
- Expanded searches and dashboards
- More saved alerts and watchlists
- Higher AI assistant usage
Professional
For teams and API users
- API access and data exports
- Multiple seats and shared workspaces
- Custom labels and cohorts
Always confirm current features, limits and pricing on the official site (nansen.ai). This page is not a plan comparison and does not quote prices.
08 Questions
Frequently asked questions
Five questions about getting started, how the data works, and where the official references live.
Do I need a paid account to follow this tutorial?
No. The walkthrough uses views that are available on the free tier, such as basic token pages and a limited number of searches and alerts. Paid tiers add capacity, more alerts and API access. Check the official site for current limits.
How does Nansen decide which wallets get a label?
Labels are inferred from observed behaviour: how long an address has been active, which contracts it uses and how it has interacted with tokens over time. They are classifications produced by the platform, not endorsed identities, and they can change as new data arrives.
Can I use Nansen without connecting a wallet?
Yes. Most of the platform is read-only analytics and works without a wallet connection. Connecting a wallet is optional and is used for portfolio-style views. Nansen will never ask for a seed phrase or private key.
Where should I check official documentation and plan details?
Use docs.nansen.ai for product documentation and nansen.ai for official plan information. Interface details and coverage change, so confirm anything you rely on at the source rather than in third-party guides.
Does the AI assistant give trading advice?
No. The assistant answers questions about indexed onchain data and explains what it used. It can be wrong or incomplete, so treat answers as a starting point and check the underlying token, wallet or dashboard before relying on them.
Learn the tool at your own pace
Open the official app, follow the seven steps in order, and keep the official documentation open while you explore. Re-read a step whenever a screen has changed.
Educational guide — not financial advice. No promises about outcomes.