Diese Seite dient nur zu Informationszwecken. Bestimmte Dienste und Funktionen sind in Ihrem Land möglicherweise nicht verfügbar.

What is open interest in crypto?

*This article discusses products that are not available in all regions.

Open interest (OI) is a metric that shows the total number of outstanding derivatives contracts, such as futures or options, that remain unsettled. OI is used by traders to measure market activity and sentiment towards a specific asset. The metric achieves this by showing the total number of active contracts at a certain moment in time.

If you’re looking to trade crypto derivatives products in available markets, it’s worthwhile to understand what open interest is, how to calculate the metric, and how you can use open interest to inform your trading strategy. Read on as we explore these areas.

How to calculate OI

The formula for calculating OI is relatively simple. All we need to do is add the total number of open long positions to the number of open short positions. However, keep in mind that this total is always changing as buyers and sellers open and close positions.

Here's how the changing buy and sell positions impact the OI total, using the scenario of two traders entering into a contract.

Trade

Impact on OI

Two traders each open a new position

OI increases by 1

One trader closes their position, the other's remains unchanged

OI decreases by 1

A position is transferred to a third trader

OI stays the same

Benefits and limitations of OI

Before measuring OI as part of your trading strategy, it's wise to understand the benefits and limitations of the metric, as part of your wider research.

Benefits of open interest

  • Reduced trading costs: Higher OI typically indicates deeper liquidity, making it easy for traders to enter and exit positions. This increased trading activity results in more narrow bid-ask spreads that allow for reduced transaction costs and slippage for active traders.

  • Gives context to market sentiment: OI could be used to back up other evidence of a shift in trader sentiment, reinforcing any wider technical analysis you've completed.

  • Transparency to market activity: Because OI reveals the number of unsettled contracts for an asset, you gain valuable insight into market engagement, allowing you to make more informed, data-driven decisions.

  • Simplicity: Because you can quantify OI through a calculation, it's one of the simpler metrics you can use for technical analysis. As a result, OI can be adopted by beginner traders right through to veterans.

Limitations of open interest

  • It's a lagging indicator: As OI relies on past data to provide a measure of what's already happened, it can only confirm a trend after it's started. This could lead you to miss potential gains if you open a position after prices have already moved.

  • It can be misleading without additional context: By now we know that OI can be most effective when it's combined with other metrics. However, that means OI could be misleading if it’s viewed without context, potentially leading you to incorrect conclusions.

  • Lacks directional detail: OI shows the total number of unsettled contracts, but not whether they're bullish or bearish. Further analysis is needed to place OI in context and allow you to make a fully informed trading decision.

Using OI in your crypto trading strategy

Now that we've got a clearer picture of what OI is and its benefits and limitations, how can you apply the metric to your trading strategy? Here are three ways many traders use OI.

Understand market participation

Some traders measure OI alongside price action for insight into market participation. Rising OI and prices could suggest growing trading volume. On the other hand, falling OI could suggest that positions are being closed, pointing to weakening momentum.

Suggest possible trader sentiment

Because open interest sometimes shows a correlation to market volume, some use it to judge possible trader sentiment. Rising OI and prices could suggest positive sentiment, while the opposite scenario might suggest more fear in the market.

Help spot trends

Other traders use open interest to identify trends, and once again, volume is a key metric often included for this purpose. Rising OI coupled with rising volume could suggest a trend is strengthening, because increasing OI points to new money entering the market. The question then is: in what direction is the trend moving? Price action can help to answer this. Rising OI and volume during a period of downward prices could suggest a continuing bearish trend — and vice versa, when prices are rising.

The final word

Open Interest is a useful metric to understand when completing technical analysis in the sometimes complex derivatives market. Although OI is often most effective when measured alongside other factors, its simplicity and transparency mean the metric is accessible for beginner traders as they can quickly gauge existing liquidity in the market.

Interested in learning more about derivatives trading? Our essential guide is a good place to start, alongside our explainer article on trading BTC derivatives.

Haftungsausschluss
Dieser Inhalt dient nur zu Informationszwecken und kann sich auf Produkte beziehen, die in deiner Region nicht verfügbar sind. Dies stellt weder (i) eine Anlageberatung oder Anlageempfehlung noch (ii) ein Angebot oder eine Aufforderung zum Kauf, Verkauf oder Halten von digitalen Assets oder (iii) eine Finanz-, Buchhaltungs-, Rechts- oder Steuerberatung dar. Krypto- und digitale Asset-Guthaben, einschließlich Stablecoins, sind mit hohen Risiken verbunden und können starken Schwankungen unterliegen. Du solltest gut abwägen, ob der Handel und das Halten von digitalen Assets angesichts deiner finanziellen Situation sinnvoll ist. Bei Fragen zu deiner individuellen Situation wende dich bitte an deinen Rechts-/Steuer- oder Anlagenexperten. Informationen (einschließlich Marktdaten und ggf. statistischen Informationen) dienen lediglich zu allgemeinen Informationszwecken. Obwohl bei der Erstellung dieser Daten und Grafiken mit angemessener Sorgfalt vorgegangen wurde, wird keine Verantwortung oder Haftung für etwaige Tatsachenfehler oder hierin zum Ausdruck gebrachte Meinungen übernommen.

© 2025 OKX. Dieser Artikel darf in seiner Gesamtheit vervielfältigt oder verbreitet oder es dürfen Auszüge von 100 Wörtern oder weniger dieses Artikels verwendet werden, sofern eine solche Nutzung nicht kommerziell erfolgt. Bei jeder Vervielfältigung oder Verbreitung des gesamten Artikels muss auch deutlich angegeben werden: „Dieser Artikel ist © 2025 OKX und wird mit Genehmigung verwendet.“ Erlaubte Auszüge müssen den Namen des Artikels zitieren und eine Quellenangabe enthalten, z. B. „Artikelname, [Name des Autors, falls zutreffend], © 2025 OKX.“ Einige Inhalte können durch künstliche Intelligenz (KI) generiert oder unterstützt worden sein. Es sind keine abgeleiteten Werke oder andere Verwendungen dieses Artikels erlaubt.

Verwandte Artikel

Mehr anzeigen
trade-academy-beginner-4
Order Types

What are iceberg orders?

An iceberg order is an algorithmic order allowing users to slice large orders into multiple small orders. These orders will be placed on the market according to their preferred mode (quick execution/price-speed balance/passive queuing). When one of the smaller orders has been completely filled, or the level has been changed from the initial orders, the system will check the depth and place the order accordingly.
18. Juli 2025
2
Forward Contracts vs. Futures Contracts What Are the Differences
Trading tools
Trading guide
Trading basics

How to use the iceberg trading bot

What are iceberg orders? Iceberg orders are large buys or sells broken down into many smaller orders. They may be useful when making a significant trade relative to the size of a given market. Even small orders can risk moving the asset price in an illiquid market, resulting in less favorable entry or exit prices for traders. Iceberg orders are designed to mask large orders and limit the impact of price slippage.
18. Juli 2025
7
The Four Pillars of Engineering Management
Order Types

Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide

TWAP, or Time-Weighted Average Price, is a popular trading strategy that is used by traders and investors aiming to minimize market impact and achieve a more accurate average price for an instrument o
18. Juli 2025
Generic tokens thumbnail
DeFi
Staking

Top 13 ways to earn passive income from crypto in 2025

Cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular over the past decade. Crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other altcoins, have gained widespread adoption and recognition. However, the crypto market is known for being highly volatile. With that being said, trading isn't the only ways you can earn income in the world of crypto. Now, market participants are able to earn passive income with relatively little effort.
17. Juli 2025
Mittel
78
Generic charts thumbnail
Technical analysis

Divergence Pattern explained: Understanding the basics

Cryptocurrencies have grown to become one of the most popular assets to trade in recent years, due the opportunities they present. However, these opportunities are only rewarding because they come wit
15. Juli 2025
2
P2P vs. DEX blog
Web3
P2P

P2P vs. DEX: How should you swap your crypto?

The OKX Wallet offers two powerful ways to swap assets: DEX and P2P. While both are easy and secure, they each come with different benefits. Let's dive into which one might be best for you. What's a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) swap?
15. Juli 2025
3
Mehr anzeigen