Bitcoin Open Interest
Open interest is the total size of BTC futures and perpetual positions that are still open - a measure of how much leveraged capital is committed to the market. It is not a directional indicator: a rise does not by itself mean the market is bullish, and a fall does not by itself mean it is bearish. Cedvel publishes this series as the USD sum across ten exchanges, and it is meant to be read alongside price direction, the funding rate and long/short positioning.
This chart shows real data up to September 27, 2026. The live value is free on Cedvel - no subscription needed.
Source: Coinalyze
What is it?
Open interest is the total size of futures and perpetual positions that are still open. It is not volume: volume counts how much changed hands during a day, while open interest measures how much position is left standing at the end of it. It rises when a position is opened and falls when one is closed or liquidated, so it describes how much capital is committed to the derivatives market - the overall scale of leverage.
How is it calculated?
Coinalyze's daily close of BTC perpetual open interest, reported per exchange, summed in USD across a fixed ten-venue panel (Binance, Bybit, Hyperliquid, Huobi, OKX, Bitfinex, Kraken, WOO X, dYdX, BitMEX). Keeping the panel fixed is essential: in a level series, a changing set of venues produces jumps that look like market moves but are really changes in composition. The series therefore starts on the first day the panel was complete (10 October 2024), and days where the panel was incomplete are not written at all - no zero, no carrying the previous day forward, no interpolated value; those days stay a real gap in the chart.
How to read it
Open interest is NOT a directional indicator on its own: rising open interest does not mean bullish, and falling open interest does not mean bearish. The meaning comes from reading it against price - if price and open interest rise together, new positions are accompanying the move; if price rises while open interest falls, the move is being driven more by existing positions closing. Open interest does not say which side is crowded; for that, look at the funding rate and long/short positioning.
Things to watch out for
There is no published, sourceable 'high' or 'low' open interest threshold, which is why Cedvel puts no bands, levels or regime badge on this series. Because the value is denominated in USD, the same quantity of contracts produces a larger dollar figure when price is higher, so levels should not be compared apart from their price context. The series covers only the ten venues in the panel - open interest on other exchanges is not in this total. Data the source carries before 2024-10-10 spans fewer exchanges and therefore does not measure the same thing as today's series, so it is deliberately not shown.
Historical usage
The series Cedvel publishes begins on 10 October 2024, the first day the ten-exchange panel was complete; older data from the source spans fewer venues, does not measure the same thing, and is deliberately not shown. Across that window the total rose from about $13.0B (10 October 2024) to a peak of $35.5B on 6 October 2025, then fell sharply within a week: $34.6B on 9 October 2025 down to $25.8B on 13 October 2025. The days in between - 10 to 12 October 2025 - are absent from the series: only one panel venue reported on those days, and rather than write an incomplete total the days were not produced at all, so the chart keeps a real gap there.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bitcoin open interest?
It is the total size of BTC futures and perpetual positions that are currently open. It rises when a new position is opened and falls when one is closed or liquidated.
How is open interest different from volume?
Volume counts how much changed hands during a day and restarts from zero each day; open interest is how much position is still standing at the end of it, so it is a stock rather than a flow. A high-volume day can leave open interest unchanged if positions merely changed hands.
Is rising open interest a bullish signal?
No. Rising open interest only says new positions are entering the market; it says nothing about which way they lean. It becomes informative against price: if price and open interest rise together, new positions are accompanying the move; if price rises while open interest falls, the move is being driven more by existing positions closing.
Is falling open interest a bearish signal?
No. Falling open interest shows positions being closed or liquidated, which can happen at the end of a decline just as easily as when a rally cools off into profit taking. Direction lives in price itself and in funding and long/short positioning, not in open interest.
Which exchanges does this series cover?
A fixed panel of ten venues: Binance, Bybit, Hyperliquid, Huobi, OKX, Bitfinex, Kraken, WOO X, dYdX and BitMEX. Keeping the panel fixed is essential - if the set of venues changed over time, the chart would show jumps that look like market moves but are really changes in composition.
Why are some days missing from the chart?
On days when not all ten panel venues reported, the total would be incomplete, so the day is not written at all. No zero is inserted, the previous day is not carried forward, and nothing is interpolated - an incomplete total would draw a fake cliff indistinguishable from a real decline. So far this has happened over 10-12 October 2025.
How current is the data on this page?
The public guide series runs at least three days behind; the most recent days are part of Cedvel Pro. The 'Latest public value' card shows the date and value of the most recent observation the delay window allows.