CME Ranks Second in Bitcoin Futures Market with $3.58 Billion OI

In terms of notional open interest (OI), the regulated Bitcoin Futures market Chicago Mercantile Market (CME) is now ranked second among BTC futures exchanges, barely behind Binance.

On October 30, CME’s open interest (OI) reached $3.58 billion, which caused the regulated derivatives trading platform to move up two spots from the previous week.

With $2.6 billion and $1.78 billion in OI, respectively, CME surpassed Bybit and OKX and is only a few million short of Binance’s $3.9 billion in OI.

Bitcoin Futures Exchange rankings by open interest. Source: Coinglass

A tenth of a bitcoin is the value of the microcontract, whereas five bitcoins are the amount of the conventional Bitcoin futures contract that CME offers.

Since perpetual futures have no expiration date and use the funding rate mechanism to keep their price parity with the market price, they are the principal subject of open interest in offshore exchanges as opposed to ordinary futures contracts.

The entire number of active Bitcoin futures or options contracts in the market is referred to as the cryptocurrency’s open interest. It is a gauge of the total sum of money that is ever invested in Bitcoin derivatives.

The capital entering and leaving the market is measured by the OI. The open interest rate will rise if more money pours into Bitcoin futures. On the other hand, the open interest will decrease if capital leaves.

Thus, rising open interest is indicative of an optimistic mood, whereas falling OI is indicative of a developing pessimistic emotion.

In addition to helping the licensed futures exchange move up to second place among futures cryptocurrency exchanges, CME’s increasing OI also caused the volume of its cash-settled futures contracts to surpass 100,000 BTC.

CME has gained 25% of the market for Bitcoin futures, partly due to traders’ growing interest in the product.

The bulk of institutional interest in CME futures has been shown by standard futures contracts, which have seen a sharp increase in demand as Bitcoin experienced a double-digit increase in October that helped it hit a new one-year high above $35,000.