What is Open Interest?
Open interest is the total notional USD value of outstanding perpetual futures contracts that have not yet been settled. It measures how much leverage is deployed in the market and is the foundational positioning metric for derivatives traders. Sharpe tracks open interest stacked by exchange across Binance, Bybit, OKX, Deribit, Hyperliquid, and 8 more venues with minute-level snapshots. Read the stack for exchange-level dominance shifts, and watch daily OI deltas for new capital entering or exiting positions.
How to use Open Interest
Read OI in tandem with price. Rising OI with rising price confirms a trend backed by new money — bullish. Rising OI with falling price confirms bearish positioning building into shorts. Falling OI during a price move signals position closures or liquidations rather than new flow. The OI stack also reveals exchange shifts: Binance losing OI share to Hyperliquid has been a persistent 2024–2026 theme that exchange-native traders exploit for funding arbitrage between venues.