Bitcoin (BTC) Open Interest Hits 27-Month High, Implications for Price

Bitcoin (BTC) futures’ open interest has successfully reached a new high for the year and these levels have not been seen since at least the last 27 months.

BTC Futures Tops $23 Billion in Open Interest

Open interest for Bitcoin futures on Centralized Exchange (CEX) hit a new 27-month high which was last seen in November 2021. Ordinarily, open interest serves as a measure of the total value of all outstanding or “unsettled” Bitcoin futures contracts across exchanges. It is an indicator of increased market activity and trader sentiment around a particular asset.

The value recorded by Bitcoin futures confirms that there has been an increase in trading activities on the Bitcoin network around this time. Based on data from CoinGlass, BTC futures precisely showed an aggregated open interest of $22.9 billion on Monday.

The figure is quite close to the peak of about $24 billion that was previously recorded. With the year less than two months gone, open interest in Bitcoin futures has seen up to a 30% growth.

This development aligns with a rise in Bitcoin price to $52,106.42, according to the current market value. Bitcoin has registered a 23% price surge year-to-date as it revisits a level that has not been attained since December 2021.

Spot Bitcoin ETF and Halving Impact on Price

Bitcoin price growth is being driven by several factors including the recent entry of institutional investors into the market through spot BTC ETFs and the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving event scheduled to happen in mid-April. 

The spot Bitcoin ETF market that was approved by the United States SEC in January has recorded significant milestones in recent weeks.

The Bitcoin ETFs went as far as outranking up to 3,400 existing ETFs with an outflow of $2.3 billion in the past week. Cumulatively, the total net outflow registered by the ten ETF issuers has exceeded $5 billion. In terms of inflows, leading investment asset management firm BlackRock has set the pace and the other top issuers are following closely.

With the halving event still a few months away, the coin is likely to see more price jumps overall.

On the other hand, the total open interest for Ethereum futures stands at $10.5 billion. The current data shows that the offering has recorded a 50% increase since the beginning of this year. The surge in Bitcoin price equally has a ripple effect on Ethereum as with all other cryptocurrencies, hence ETH is also trading above $2,900 after soaring by more than 14% surge in the trailing 7-day period.