Bitcoin futures trading volume in dollar terms climbed back above $1 trillion following a 21-month low in August.  

Futures trading volume for the leading cryptocurrency by market cap came in at $1.05 trillion across all exchanges last month. Volumes rose back above $1 trillion dollars after falling below this level in August, to $941.5 billion, for the first time since December 2020, according to The Block Research data dashboard

The August lull came amid an increase trading in ether futures ahead of The Merge, following Ethereum's upgrade volumes in ether derivatives continued to challenge bitcoin. Ether futures volumes fell back below bitcoin's in September, after eclipsing them for the first time in August.

Elsewhere, bitcoin funding rates remain positive across most exchanges — apart from BitMex and Huobi, which are -1.78% and -0.65% respectively. Funding rates are the payments made between traders based on the difference between perpetual contract prices and spot prices. These are typically a good indicator of investor sentiment.

Depending on open positions, long or short, traders pay for or receive funding — negative indicates traders are short, and positive implies traders are long.