Bitcoin Futures Open Interest Smashes Record High as Price Surges

Bitcoin futures trading has surged to new heights, with the open interest for contracts on centralized exchanges hitting a record high of $26.99 billion on Friday, according to Coinglass data.

Open interest, which represents the total value of all outstanding Bitcoin futures contracts across exchanges, is seen as a key indicator of market activity and trader sentiment surrounding the leading cryptocurrency.

This spike in open interest surpasses the previous peak of $24 billion in November 2021, coinciding with Bitcoin’s all-time high of over $69,000. It also aligns with the recent price rally that saw Bitcoin reach a high of $64,000 earlier this week.

Data from The Block’s Data Dashboard confirms the rise in open interest, indicating that bitcoin futures open interest on exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Deribit, and others has climbed to over $21 billion.

QCP Capital, a crypto trading firm, noted in a market update that retail-focused exchanges like Binance have been driving the price action, with bitcoin perpetual futures trading at premiums of $70 to $80 to the spot price.

The recent rally in Bitcoin’s price to over $64,000 has been attributed to a surge in speculative retail buying, according to the report.

Coinbase Attests to the Recent Surge in Bitcoin Futures Open Interest

Coinbase, a major crypto exchange, reported that the open-interest weighted average funding rate reached 109% annualized on February 28, the highest level since April 2021, according to Glassnode.

This indicates that traders holding long positions in bitcoin futures are paying a high fee to maintain their positions, reflecting a strong bullish sentiment.

Coinbase analysts also highlighted that between February 25 and 28, nearly $750 million worth of short positions were liquidated each day, setting new year-to-date highs in the amount of liquidated shorts.

However, they cautioned that the high funding rates and open interest could lead to a sharp correction if the unwinding of positions triggers a cascade of long liquidations.

Despite these risks, Coinbase remains optimistic about the outlook for Bitcoin, pointing to the continued onboarding of spot ETFs by wealth management firms and net inflows absorbing circulating supply at a faster rate than Bitcoin miners produce.

 

Interested In Getting The “Learn2Trade Experience?”Join Us Here