What open interest is, and how to read it

Open interest is the total value of derivative contracts currently open. Not how much traded, but how much is still on the table.

Why it is not volume

Volume counts everything that changed hands. Open interest counts what is still held. One contract traded back and forth ten times adds ten to volume and nothing to open interest. A single new position opened and left alone adds nothing further to volume and stays in open interest until it closes. Volume is activity; open interest is commitment.

Reading it with price

The pairing is what carries information:

• Price up, open interest up — new money entering long. The move has fuel behind it.
• Price up, open interest down — shorts covering. The move is being driven by people getting out, not people getting in, and it tends to run out sooner.
• Price down, open interest up — new shorts. Conviction on the downside.
• Price down, open interest down — longs liquidating or giving up. Often how a flush ends rather than how it starts.

Where our number comes from

We add Binance and Bybit USDT perpetual open interest and report it in dollars, not contracts, so coins are comparable. Bybit publishes a dollar figure directly; Binance publishes contract quantity, which we multiply by the mark price. The 24-hour change is measured against our own five-minute samples, so it only appears once we hold a full day of history for that coin.

Largest open interest now

Combined Binance and Bybit perpetual open interest in dollars. Full table on the trend scanner.

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