Open interest in Bitcoin’s perpetual futures contracts just hit a 4-month high

It seems as if the futures market of Bitcoin (BTC) is bigger than ever as investors keep piling on bets, despite the rise and decline in the world’s largest cryptocurrency, over the past few weeks.

The official Twitter account of Glassnode indicated on September 12 that the Bitcoin-denominated open interest (OI) in perpetual futures reached a 4-month high of $3.9 billion on Binance, a level previously observed on June 6, 2022, when the level hit $3.89 billion.

Furthermore, it appears that crypto traders favor perpetual contracts, whose characteristic is not having an expiry date, meaning that traders can keep highly leveraged positions in place.

Crypto market awaits new data

Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $22,180, up 2.55% in the last 24 hours and a further 12.18% across the week, with a market worth of $424 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data retrieved by Finbold.

A potential new rally in BTC could be right around the corner, barring bad Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, which is expected to hit markets this week and show how well the Federal Reserve (Fed) is keeping inflation in check. Additionally, the end of the Ethereum (ETH) Merge could be another leg up for the crypto markets.

Higher inflation numbers could spook traders in the broader market, and as the correlation between BTC prices and the stock market is at an all-time high, volatility could be the result. Moreover, a similar situation could occur after the Ethereum Merge as traders may shift their perspectives, especially if any issues surrounding the Merge surface.

In the end, cryptocurrencies have been plagued by various issues, such as the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem, the demise of Three Arrows Capital, and subsequent bankruptcies of Voyager Digital and Celsius Network. All of these issues have affected crypto prices, but as things stand at the moment, a shift may be coming if CPI comes in lower than expected.

Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.