Open interest (OI): how to read OI spikes
Updated 06.11.2026
Open interest (OI) is the number of futures contracts that are currently open — positions that have been opened and not yet closed. Price shows where the market is going; open interest shows whether new money is entering the move or the move is driven by positions being closed.
What open interest is
Every futures contract has two sides: a long and a short. When a new buyer and a new seller open positions, OI grows by one contract. When both close, it falls. If a position simply changes hands — one trader closes and another opens — OI does not change.
That is the difference from volume: volume counts every trade, including closing ones, while open interest shows how much money stays in the market. Liquidations also reduce OI: a liquidated position is closed by the exchange.
Price and OI together
| OI ↑ | OI ↓ | |
|---|---|---|
| Price ↑ | New positions are opening in the direction of the move, usually longs. The rally is fuelled by fresh money. | The rise comes from closing positions — shorts buying back (a short squeeze). The fuel may run out once the shorts are gone. |
| Price ↓ | New shorts are opening (or longs are averaging down). The pressure comes with new money. | Longs are closing or being liquidated. After a liquidation cascade a sell-off often runs out of steam. |
This table is a guide, not a law: OI does not say who opened the position, a buyer or a seller — only that a new contract appeared. But together with price it explains well what kind of move is happening.
How macry detects an OI spike
- The site tracks open interest of the most liquid USDT perpetual contracts: on Bybit it arrives live over WebSocket, on Binance it is requested every minute.
- An OI spike is a change of 10% or more within 1 hour, up or down.
- As with other signals, coins with less than $5M of daily turnover are skipped, and after a signal the pair stays quiet for 30 minutes.
- The signal also shows the price change at that moment, so you can immediately place it in the table above.
How to read an OI spike signal
- Look at the price over the same hour. OI growing while price stands still means positions are building up on both sides — often before a sharp move. Which way it goes is shown by the breakout of the range.
- Check the funding rate on the coin page. Rising OI with high positive funding means a crowd of longs paying to hold their positions: if the price turns, their liquidations can speed the fall up. The same with negative funding and shorts.
- Look for levels. Positions opened near a strong level have stops and liquidations just beyond it. A breakout of such a level often triggers a cascade — which is also visible on the liquidation map.
- Watch the fall of OI. A sharp drop of OI after a strong move is a sign that positions are being closed: the move may be ending.
How macry scores an OI signal
OI itself has no direction, so the result is measured in the direction of the price at the moment of the signal: if the price was rising, the signal worked when it kept rising over the next 15 minutes, 1 hour and 4 hours. The statistics are below.
Common mistakes
- Reading rising OI as “bullish”. It only says new positions are opening; their direction is shown by the price.
- Comparing OI of different coins: for a small coin a 10% jump in an hour is common, for Bitcoin it is a big event.
- Ignoring the time: OI often grows before big news or the opening of the US market and is closed right after.
Open interest for every coin — on the coin pages; OI spike notifications without delay — with Pro.