The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), a regulated derivatives exchange that lists Bitcoin (BTC) futures, currently ranks second among BTC futures exchanges in terms of notional open interest after Binance.
Open interest on CME Group reached $3.58 billion on Oct. 30, pushing the regulated derivatives trading platform up two positions from the previous week. CME’s open interest is $2.6 billion and $1.78 billion respectively, surpassing Bybit and OKX and just a few million dollars behind Binance’s $3.9 billion.
The standard Bitcoin futures contract offered by CME is worth 5 bitcoins, while the micro contract is worth one-tenth of a bitcoin. Perpetual futures are the main focus of open interest on offshore exchanges, rather than ordinary futures contracts, because perpetual futures have no expiration date and use a financing rate method to maintain parity with the market price.
Bitcoin open interest refers to the total number of open Bitcoin futures or options contracts on the market. It measures the amount of money invested in Bitcoin derivatives at any given time. Open interest measures money flowing into and out of the market. If more money flows into Bitcoin futures, open interest will increase. But if funds flow out, open interest will fall. Therefore, an increase in open interest reflects bullish sentiment, while a decrease in open interest indicates bearish sentiment.
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The increase in CME’s open interest not only helped the regulated futures exchange climb to second place among cryptocurrency futures exchanges, but its cash-settled futures contract volume also exceeded 100,000 BTC. Rising interest among traders in the Bitcoin futures market also helped CME gain 25% of the Bitcoin futures market share.
The majority of investments in CME Futures are made through standard futures contracts, a sign of the influx of institutional interest that followed Bitcoin’s double-digit surge in October, helping it reach a one-year high above $35,000.
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