Share this article
Open Interest on CME Bitcoin Futures Hits All-Time High, Signals Further Bullishness
CME bitcoin futures open interest reaches all-time high, driven by active and direct participants - K33 Research.
Updated Oct 21, 2024, 6:13 p.m. Published Oct 16, 2024, 10:15 a.m.
- Bitcoin futures open interest on the CME exchange has hit an all-time high of 172,430 BTC ($11.6 billion).
- Over the past five trading days, CME bitcoin futures have seen an increase of 25,125 BTC, marking one of the highest recorded changes in recent years.
Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has hit a new all-time high of 172,430 BTC ($11.6 billion).
On Tuesday, CoinDesk reported that cash-margin open interest reached a new all-time high, with CME accounting for 40% of the total. Open interest refers to the number of open or active futures contracts at any given time.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
In the past five trading days, CME has seen open interest ramp up by 25,125 BTC. This is one of the highest levels recorded over a five-day period in recent years.
The last time we saw such a build up was June 2023 (26,525 BTC), which coincided with the BlackRock filing for the spot bitcoin ETF, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). During this period bitcoin surged from approximately $25,000 to $30,000.
Then, in October 2023, CME saw the addition of 25,115 BTC, which coincided with CME becoming the largest futures exchange for the first time, overtaking Binance. Once again, in this period, from October to year-end bitcoin rose from approximately $25,000 to over $40,000.
Vetle Lunde, senior analyst at K33 Research, also pointed out this milestone and explored which cohort is driving this growth.
Lunde notes that active and direct market participants are driving this growth on the CME, and it's not coming from futures-based ETFs such as ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO).
"The growth is clearly driven by active/direct market participants - not inflows to futures-based ETFs".
The chart below by Lunde, shows a breakdown of open interest by cohort on the CME. Active and direct participants currently hold 85,623 BTC a similar amount to what was held in March when bitcoin reached it's all-time high.
However, the 1x leveraged ETF has steadily declined throughout the year and holding just 31,752 BTC. While, the 2x leveraged ETF, which saw a significant surge in March has only experienced slight growth since then. This suggests speculation and leverage were key drivers in the early part of the year, but are no longer the primary drivers in the current market.
Lunde notes that the activity is structured around the November expiry, following the U.S. election.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
XRP Faces Downside Risk as Social Sentiment Turns Wildly Negative
The turn in crowd mood comes after a two-month slide of roughly 31%, leaving the token vulnerable to further downside if risk appetite weakens across majors.
What to know:
- XRP's price approached the $2 mark as social sentiment around the token turned sharply negative, according to Santiment data.
- The token has experienced a 31% decline over two months, making it vulnerable to further losses if market risk appetite weakens.
- Santiment's sentiment model indicates XRP is in a 'fear zone,' where negative commentary significantly outweighs positive talk, potentially influencing market positioning.
Top Stories
