{"slug":"open-interest","term":"Open Interest","category":"Derivatives","definition":"Open interest is the total number of outstanding derivatives contracts that haven't been closed or settled. Every contract has one long and one short, so OI measures money committed to a market, not volume traded. Rising OI means new positions entering; falling OI means positions closing out — the fuel gauge behind any move.","street":"OI is how much money is actually sitting in the trade — volume is people talking, OI is people staying.","depth":["OI counts open contracts or their notional value — one long matched with one short. Read it against price: price up + OI up means new longs pressing; price up + OI down means shorts covering, which runs out of fuel fast; price down + OI up is fresh shorts building; price down + OI down is longs bailing. The distinction matters: a rally on falling OI is positions leaving the table, not conviction arriving.","The number that matters most is OI relative to its own recent range. When OI on a coin balloons 30–50% in a few days while price grinds sideways, leverage is stacking on one side and the flush usually arrives before the breakout does. After a big wipeout, crushed OI is actually the cleaner setup — fewer forced sellers left in the building. Retail misreads OI as demand; it's exposure, and exposure is exactly what liquidation cascades feed on."],"live":{"label":"Open interest by coin across seven exchanges, live","href":"/tools/open-interest"},"related":["funding-rate","liquidation-cascade","cvd","perpetual-futures"]}