[NEWS] CME's Bitcoin futures open interest surges, making it second only to Binance

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is currently ranked second on the list of Bitcoin (BTC) futures exchanges in terms of open interest (OI). It is approaching the number one major cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.

As of October 30, CME's OI reached $3.58 billion.

CME's OI has overtaken Bybit's $2.6 billion and OKX's $1.78 billion, and is about $300 million away from Binance's OI of $3.9 billion.

The standard contract for CME's Bitcoin futures is 5 BTC, but micro contracts are traded at one-tenth the price. At overseas exchanges, perpetual futures with no settlement date are the main targets of open interest, rather than ordinary futures contracts. Perpetual futures use a funding rate methodology to keep their prices at the same level as the market price.

Bitcoin open interest refers to the total number of Bitcoin futures and options contracts open in the market. It is a measure of the amount of money invested in Bitcoin futures, while OI measures the capital flowing into the market.

As more money flows into Bitcoin futures, open interest increases, while as money flows out, open interest decreases. Thus, an increase in open interest reflects bullish sentiment in the market, while a decrease in OI indicates an increase in bearish sentiment.

CME's increase in OI not only helped the futures exchange surpass cryptocurrency exchanges to become the second largest exchange, but also helped its cash-settled futures contracts trade more than 100,000 BTC. With more traders interested in the Bitcoin futures market, CME has increased its share of the Bitcoin futures market to 25%.

The majority of CME futures investments are in futures standard contracts. Bitcoin recorded a double-digit surge in October, surpassing $35,000 for the first time in a year and reaching its highest price since the start of the year, which led to an inflow of funds from institutional investors. In the United States, prices are rising following reports that BlackRock's Bitcoin spot ETF is close to approval.

There seems to be another factor behind the rise in Bitcoin prices.

Bitcoin prices hit all-time highs in Turkey and Nigeria. More people are buying Bitcoin due to the decline in fiat currencies and an unstable economic environment.

In Turkey, the price of Bitcoin reached 960,000 lira (approximately 5.09 million yen) and in Nigeria, 27.4 million naira (approximately 5.37 million yen), with a monthly increase of more than 30% in fiat currency terms.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IME), inflation in Nigeria rose 25% year-on-year and in Turkey rose 51%, but at the same time, the currencies have fallen sharply. The Nigerian dollar has fallen 0.45% in the past month and 45% in the past six months. The lira has also fallen 2.9% in the past month and 31% in the past six months.

Against this backdrop, more people are buying Bitcoin because it is safer to hold it than fiat currency.

In both countries, the demand for crypto assets is growing year by year. According to a report released in September by blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, Nigeria is the second most active country in terms of cryptocurrency trading customers after India. Turkey is ranked 12th out of 20 countries.

Reference:Announcement,coinglass
Image: Shutterstock