Bitcoin open interest exceeds $40B amid brush near $70K

Open interest on Bitcoin derivatives reached a record high on Oct. 21, as BTC came close to breaching the $70,000 price point. 

In a post on X on Oct. 21, CoinGlass reported that Open Interest (OI) on Bitcoin (BTC $68,732) futures contracts had reached a record high of $40.5 billion.

Open interest is the value or number of outstanding futures contracts that have yet to expire. It measures the amount of money invested in Bitcoin derivatives at any given time, with higher OI indicating potentially more leverage and volatility in the system.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) had the lion’s share of the OI with 30.7%, followed by Binance with 20.4%, then Bybit with 15%. 

Exchange BTC Futures Open Interest (USD). Source: CoinGlass

During times of high OI, if prices move sharply, it can trigger cascading liquidations, which can force selling in the spot market in “flush outs” that result in sharp BTC price dumps.  

The last such flush-out occurred in early August, when BTC prices dropped almost 20%, or around $12,000, in less than two days, falling below $50,000. 

The asset is flying high, reaching $69,380 in early trading on Oct. 21, according to TradingView. However, it was rejected at resistance and had pulled back to trade at $69,033 at the time of publication. 

BTC/USD. Source: TradingView

According to CoinGecko, the asset is just 6.4% below its all-time high of $73,738. 

On Oct. 20, Cointelegraph reported that if Bitcoin rallies above $70,000, it might supercharge altcoins such as Ether (ETH $2,733.88) and Solana (SOL $169.31).

Both assets are currently outperforming BTC in terms of daily gains, with Ether gaining 3.5% to top $2,750, while Solana made 6% on the day, coming just shy of $170 during early trading on Oct. 21. Still, both assets have pulled back slightly since.