Bitcoin futures open interest on CME to 2021 all-time high.
Bitcoin (BTC) futures open interest reached $5.2 billion at the end of October 2021 on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), just shy of an all-time high of $200 million.
Open interest in CME's Bitcoin futures rose from $3.63 billion to $5.20 billion over the past 30 days, according to Coinglass data. The rise in open interest has paralleled Bitcoin's 26 percent gain over the same period, with Bitcoin currently trading above $44,000.
From October 1 to 21, 2021, open interest in CME's Bitcoin futures rose from $1.46 billion to $5.45 billion.
The rapid increase in open interest coincided with a sharp price jump for Bitcoin, which rose from $45,000 to $66,000.
IG Australia analyst Tony Sycamore told Cointelegraph that the increase in open interest indicates renewed interest in Bitcoin, but it doesn't explain how CME traders are positioned.
Sycamore pointed to CME's Nov. 28 Commodity Futures Trading Commission report, which found that the “big players” on the platform were short positions at the time, with 20,724 short positions compared to 18,979 longs, Sycamore said.
Until CME's latest report comes out on Tuesday, Dec. 12, Sycamore said investors won't be able to see exactly how players at CME are positioned.
“What we don't see right now is the big players going from short to long,” Sycamore said. “If we've seen the market get too long, you'd be very worried about a contingency. I don't think we are there yet because the market we saw last week was short.
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The surge in Bitcoin prices is being driven more by speculation surrounding the SEC's approval of a list of spot ETF products, Sycamore added. A decision on ETFs is stuck in early January.
“I think he needs to drive this more now. It's no longer just an ETF or half-assed. This has taken on a life of its own.
Sycamore recently said that the Bitcoin Rally could be due to its relationship with the macro environment, looking at the Federal Reserve's signal to start cutting interest rates as a more significant driver of crypto price action.
In November, CME gained the highest position in Bitcoin futures from Binance open interest, which many interpreted as a sign that traditional financial institutions are beginning to show a greater appetite for crypto products.
Many analysts believe that the approval of an ETF will bring a rapid upward price signal for Bitcoin, but not everyone is sure that the current rally can stick, with some predicting a “selling news” style event in the days and weeks after a potential approval.
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