Bitfinex Reports Sharp Drop in Open Interest for Bitcoin Futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Other Trading Platforms

Open interest on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange fell by $220 million over the past week, while total open interest across other platforms fell by more than $450 million in the same period.

This decline caused total open interest in Bitcoin futures to fall from its all-time high, which reached $36.99 billion on June 7, to $33.3 billion.

Analysts stated that this decline in open interest (OI) coincides with the negative funding rates observed on several exchanges over the past week, and corresponds with ETF outflows, indicating a significant unwinding of funding arbitrage trades associated with those inflows.

Therefore, it is important that not all ETF outflows are interpreted as direct spot sales.

Based on the recent “Bitfinex Alpha” report, analysts predict that Bitcoin may be approaching a bottom, as heavy outflows from ETFs are often associated with the formation of local bottoms.

When Bitcoin fell below $70,000 in early June, Bitcoin ETFs in the United States saw...