What BTC open interest measures
Open interest counts positions, not trades. It rises when new longs and shorts open against each other and falls when positions close, by choice or by liquidation. Volume can be huge while open interest stays flat, if traders are only passing positions back and forth.
Bitcoin's perpetual futures carry more open interest than any other coin's, so BTC liquidations, funding and open interest tend to set the tone for the rest of the market. It is one of the two coins, with ETH, where Markov also models options dealer gamma.
How Markov reads BTC open interest
Hyperliquid publishes BTC open interest in coins with each asset update. Markov multiplies it by the mark price to give USD. On the chart it is a pane under the candles, sampled every 30 seconds, with the collector's stored samples before that on paid plans (a free account sees the last 8 hours on 5m). This page's panel follows the live updates from the moment you open it.
It is one venue's open interest, not the market-wide total. The free Derivatives tool reads Binance's open interest across the major perps, or OKX's where Binance is refused, and says which.
Reading open interest with price
The usual readings, which are tendencies, not rules:
- Price up, open interest up: new positions are opening into the move.
- Price up, open interest down: positions are closing, often shorts covering.
- Price down, open interest up: new positions are opening into the drop, often shorts.
- Price down, open interest down: positions are closing, often longs exiting or being liquidated.
What it can't tell you
Open interest says how much is at stake, not who holds which side or where they entered. A sharp fall in BTC open interest during a sell-off is usually liquidations and stops. The liquidation feed shows which side was forced out.
Defined in the glossary: open interest, perpetual futures (perps). The methodology says how every number is made, with its limits. Markov provides research tools and education, not financial advice.