Bitcoin Speculation Explodes As Open Interest Sets New $45.3 Billion Record

Data shows the Bitcoin Open Interest has shot up to a new all-time high (ATH), implying speculative interest around BTC has surged.

Bitcoin Open Interest Has Risen Alongside Price Rally

As explained by CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn in a new post on X, the Bitcoin Open Interest has seen a sharp surge recently. The “Open Interest” here refers to an indicator that keeps track of the total amount of BTC-related positions that are currently on all derivatives exchanges.

When the value of the metric rises, it means the investors are opening fresh positions related to the asset. Generally, more positions come up with more leverage for the sector, so the cryptocurrency’s price can become more volatile following an Open Interest jump.

On the other hand, the indicator going down implies traders are either closing positions of their own volition or getting forcibly liquidated by their platform. This kind of trend can clear out leverage, which can naturally make the asset more stable.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Open Interest over the last few months:

As is visible in the above graph, the Bitcoin Open Interest has witnessed a strong increase alongside the asset’s run toward the all-time high (ATH) during the last few days.

This suggests speculative interest in the coin has gone up. The trend isn’t anything unusual, as rallies tend to attract a lot of attention, and with attention naturally comes repositioning on the derivatives market.

The scale of the rise this time, however, is definitely something worth taking note of. Rapid increases in the indicator alongside a rally can sometimes destabilize it.

Following the latest jump, the Bitcoin Open Interest has touched $45.3 billion, which is a new ATH. “That’s the highest level of leverage the market has EVER seen,” notes the analyst. It now remains to be seen whether the bullish momentum will continue regardless of the intense speculation, or if it will prove to be a warning sign.

In some other news, the BTC rally has also been accompanied by growth in the Coinbase Premium Gap, an indicator that measures the difference between the BTC prices listed on cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase (USD pair) and Binance (USDT pair).

As the below chart shared by Maartunn in another X post shows, the metric’s value is floating around a positive value of $108 right now.

This notable positive value implies Coinbase traders are currently participating in a higher amount of buying than Binance users, which is why Bitcoin is going for a higher rate there.

BTC Price

Bitcoin has pushed back toward its ATH as the latest continuation to its recovery run has taken its price to $122,300.