Recent data from CoinGlass shows a significant increase in the total volume of open positions in Bitcoin futures on centralized exchanges, reaching levels that have not been seen since early November 2021.
On February 20, this figure reached a whopping $22.69 billion, with the regulated exchange CME leading the way at $6.77 billion.
Binance also had a significant share at $5.89 billion, closely followed by Bybit with $4.04 billion. This increase in open interest (OI) can be attributed to the overall growth of the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin seeing a 30% increase in OI since the beginning of the year.
For Ethereum-based contracts, the OI is approaching $10 billion, with a 50% increase since the start of the year. During the same period, the price of Ether has risen by approximately 25%.
Analysts at The Block believe that open interest is a key indicator of market activity and trader sentiment towards a particular asset. It is worth noting that CME had already surpassed Binance in terms of OI back in the fall.
