CME Becomes Second Largest Bitcoin Futures Exchange as Open Interest Surges

Open Interest of Bitcoin Futures

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), a regulated derivatives exchange that lists Bitcoin (BTC) futures, now stands just behind Binance in terms of notional open interest, taking the second spot in the list of BTC futures exchanges. The CME’s open interest hit $3.58 billion on Oct. 30, overtaking Bybit and OKX with $2.6 billion and $1.78 billion in open interest, respectively. Binance still leads with $3.9 billion.

The CME offers standard Bitcoin futures contracts with a value of five BTC, as well as micro contracts worth a tenth of a Bitcoin. Open interest in offshore exchanges is mainly focused on perpetual futures, which don’t have an expiration date and use the funding rate method to maintain their price parity with the market price.

Open interest in Bitcoin futures is a measure of the total number of outstanding Bitcoin futures or options contracts in the market, showing the amount of money invested in Bitcoin derivatives at any given time. The open interest reflects the capital flowing in and out of the market, with increasing open interest indicating a bullish sentiment and declining open interest a bearish sentiment.

The increasing open interest of the CME not only propelled it to become the second biggest futures crypto exchange, but also saw its cash-settled futures contracts exceed 100,000 BTC in volume. The popularity of the Bitcoin futures market among traders has led the CME to gain 25% of the Bitcoin futures market share.

The majority of investments into CME futures have come from standard futures contracts, indicating a surge of institutional interest as Bitcoin registered a major double-digit increase in October, helping it reach a new one-year high above $35,000.

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