Bitcoin & Crypto Open Interest

What is open interest?

Open interest (OI) is the total value of derivatives contracts that are still open: every futures or perpetual position that has been opened and not yet closed, settled or liquidated. Every contract has two sides, a long and a short, so open interest counts each contract once. When a trader opens a new position against another new position, open interest rises; when both sides close, it falls; when one trader hands a position to another, it does not change.

On this page Bitcoin open interest is the sum across 20 exchanges and every contract type: USDT and USDC-margined perpetuals, coin-margined contracts and CME futures. It is shown in US dollars and in BTC. The dollar figure also moves with the price, so the BTC amount is the cleaner measure of positions actually opened or closed.

How to read open interest with price

Open interest says how much money is committed, not which way it leans. Paired with the price it becomes one of the most useful reads in crypto derivatives:

Open interest	Price	Usual reading
Rising	Rising	New longs. Fresh money is buying the move, which supports the trend while it lasts.
Rising	Falling	New shorts. Traders are opening shorts into the drop; if the price turns, they become fuel for a squeeze.
Falling	Rising	Short covering. The rally is shorts closing rather than new buyers, which often fades once covering ends.
Falling	Falling	Long unwinding. Longs are closing or being liquidated; a sharp OI drop on a red day is a leverage flush.

The Open interest vs price panel applies this to the last 24 hours, 7, 30 and 90 days, and counts how many of the last 90 days fell into each case.

Open interest, leverage and liquidations

Open interest is a measure of leverage in the market. Two ratios put it in context. OI to market cap compares the value of open positions with the coin's market value: the higher it is, the more of the price is being driven by borrowed money. OI to volume compares positions held with daily trading: a high ratio means positions are being held rather than churned.

When open interest climbs to a high while funding rates are strongly positive and the long/short ratio is stretched, the market is crowded on one side. Those conditions tend to end in a cascade of liquidations, visible as a sudden drop in open interest; the range stats under the chart show the largest one-day drop. The Bitcoin liquidation heatmap shows where those liquidations would trigger.

Why CME open interest matters

CME is the regulated US futures exchange where funds, asset managers and basis traders hold Bitcoin and Ether futures. Its share of open interest is a read on institutional positioning, and much of it is the cash-and-carry trade: long spot or ETF shares, short CME futures, earning the gap between them. A rising CME share usually means institutions are adding exposure or carry; the offshore venues (Binance, Bybit, OKX and others) are where most retail and crypto-native leverage sits.

Stablecoin-margined and coin-margined open interest

Most open interest today is stablecoin-margined: the position is collateralised and settled in USDT or USDC. Coin-margined (inverse) contracts use the coin itself as collateral, so a falling price shrinks both the position and the collateral behind it. A larger coin-margined share makes the market more fragile on the way down. The By margin view of the chart shows how the split has moved.

Limits of open interest

Open interest does not say who is long or short, only how much is open. It is also valued at the current price, so a price rally lifts dollar OI with no new positions. Exchanges report their own figures and some count differently, and options are not included. Use it beside funding rates, the long/short ratio and price structure, not as a signal on its own.

Where the data comes from

Coinperps collects open interest from each exchange's market data, values it in US dollars at the current price and adds it up by coin. The by-exchange figures and the 1-hour, 4-hour and 24-hour changes refresh live; the history chart uses one daily close per day since April 2025. Coin totals cover crypto markets only: tokenised stocks, indices and commodities are left out.