Bitcoin Open Interest: Aggregated BTC Futures OI

Total open interest497,579 BTC−4.82%
Open interest (USD)$32.26B
24h change−$1.56BAll tracked venues
OI / 24h volume0.44
9 rows
#ExchangeOI (BTC)OI (USD)Share1h4h24hOI / 24h vol
197,674$6.33B19.63%−0.56%+0.65%−2.40%0.29Trade
2
CMEWeekly · CFTC
87,635$5.68B17.61%————
371,798$4.65B14.43%+2.06%+0.37%−1.36%0.47Trade
462,811$4.07B12.62%−0.04%+1.87%−3.84%0.91Trade
556,142$3.64B11.28%+0.56%+1.61%−9.36%0.40Trade
637,876$2.46B7.61%−0.66%+3.47%−5.40%0.32Trade
737,449$2.43B7.53%+0.94%+2.56%−3.58%0.40Trade
833,356$2.16B6.70%+0.02%−0.11%−3.71%0.18Trade
912,837$832.15M2.58%−0.30%−0.84%−8.92%0.89Trade

Exchange BTC futures open interest

Nov 8 12:55Nov 10 05:58Nov 11 20:59Nov 13 12:58Nov 15 03:52
BinanceBybitMEXCGateHyperliquidPrice

Open interest by coin

  1. BTC$26.57B
  2. ETH$12.49B
  3. SOL$2.82B
  4. HYPE$2.68B
  5. XAU$1.52B
  6. ZEC$1.50B
  7. XRP$1.21B
  8. NVDA$743.04M

Bitcoin aggregated open interest is the total value of BTC futures positions still open across the tracked venues, summed into one figure. It counts contracts that have been opened and not yet closed, settled or liquidated. It is not trading volume and not a count of buyers. Every open contract has a long holder and a short holder, so open interest measures how much exposure exists, not which side holds the advantage.

What the aggregate counts

A trade changes open interest only when it creates or extinguishes a contract. The effect depends on who is on each side:

  • Both parties open new positions: open interest rises.
  • Both parties close existing positions: open interest falls.
  • One opens while the other closes: the contract changes hands and open interest stays the same.

A hypothetical market starts at zero. Trader A buys one contract and Trader B sells one to open a short: open interest is 1. Trader A then sells to take profit while Trader C buys as a new long; the contract changes hands and open interest stays at 1. Finally, Trader B buys back the short and Trader C sells to close the long, returning open interest to 0. Price moved throughout, but only the creation or closing of positions changed the total.

Reading the columns

OI in BTC versus OI in USD

The BTC column counts outstanding positions in coins. The USD column values those positions at the current price:

OI (USD) = OI (BTC) × BTC price

The USD figure can change with no new trading at all. Assume a hypothetical 500,000 BTC open at $80,000: that is $40 billion. If price rises 5% and nobody opens or closes a position, USD open interest becomes $42 billion, up 5%, while BTC open interest is unchanged. Compare both columns before reading a USD increase as fresh leverage entering the market.

Share and the 1h, 4h and 24h changes

Share is one venue’s USD open interest divided by the all-venue total. It shows where positions are concentrated among the tracked exchanges, not overall market dominance.

The 1h, 4h and 24h columns give the percentage change in a venue’s open interest over each window. When one exchange moves sharply while the others are flat, the change is local to that venue’s traders rather than a market-wide shift.

OI to 24h volume

OI / 24h vol = open interest ÷ trading volume over the past 24 hours

A ratio above 1 means more exposure is being held open than was traded in a day. A low ratio means heavy turnover relative to the positions that remain, which fits short-term trading where positions are opened and closed within the day.

The CME row

The CME Weekly · CFTC line has no 1h, 4h, 24h or volume-ratio values. It comes from weekly regulatory reporting, so it can lag the crypto-native venues by days, and it reflects a regulated US market with a different participant base from offshore perpetual swap exchanges. Read it as a slower-moving reference level.

What moves open interest

Open interest rises when new leveraged positions are opened faster than old ones close. It falls through voluntary closing, futures expiry and forced liquidations. Liquidations can remove a large block of positions in minutes, which shows up as a sharp drop alongside a fast price move.

Combining open interest with price gives more context than either alone:

Price Open interest What it shows
Up Up New positions are being added as price rises
Up Down Price rises while positions close, for example shorts covering
Down Up New positions are being added as price falls
Down Down Positions are being closed or liquidated into the decline

Limits of the figure

  • Coverage: the total sums only the venues listed in the table. Exchanges outside that list, and options open interest, are not included.
  • Mixed timing: the weekly CME figure is combined with far more frequent exchange data, so the aggregate blends snapshots taken at different times.
  • Netting: a delta-neutral trader holding a futures short against spot BTC adds to open interest without taking a directional bet, so high open interest does not mean the market leans one way.
  • Contract differences: venues list coin-margined and stablecoin-margined contracts with their own margin rules. Aggregation converts them to a common unit, but liquidation risk differs by product.
Updated Nov 15, 2026 · 03:52 UTCSource: Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, Hyperliquid, Gate, MEXC, HTX APIs · CME via CFTCUpdates every 5 min

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Written by Crypto Desk

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