Bitcoin futures open interest reaches new high at $38 billion

Open interest for bitcoin futures on centralized exchanges has reached a fresh high, indicating increased trading activity around the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. 

According to CoinGlass, the aggregated open interest for bitcoin futures reached a record level of $38 billion on Friday.

Since the start of 2024, daily open interest in bitcoin futures has increased by more than 100% from Jan 1, when it was approximately $17.2 billion. This rise coincides with bitcoin’s price surge to $70,000 — a 66% increase year-to-date.

Open interest, a measure of the total value of all outstanding or "unsettled" bitcoin futures contracts across exchanges, indicates increased market activity and trader sentiment around a particular asset.

The current open interest figure aligns with a monthly volume of over $2.3 trillion in bitcoin futures during March across various exchanges, the highest since May 2021, according to The Block's data dashboard.

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Meanwhile, the total open interest for ether futures is $13.8 billion, marking an almost 90% increase since the beginning of 2024. Ether’s trading price has reached $3,500, reflecting a gain of over 53% year-to-date.

In recent months, the introduction of bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by firms, including BlackRock, has influenced market sentiment and resulted in cumulative net inflows of over $12 billion into bitcoin spot ETFs to date.