The Number of Open Positions in CME Futures Exceeded 215 Thousand Bitcoins for the First Time

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is approaching $2 trillion in market value for the first time after its price surged $30,000 since Donald Trump won the US presidential election at the beginning of the month.

The price of BTC, currently valued at $1.93 trillion, surpassed $97,000 for the first time earlier in the day. The market dominance of cryptocurrency reached up to 61.8%.

Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) increased by a third compared to before the November 5 election, reaching 218,000 BTC ($21.3 billion), according to Coinglass data. Increasing open positions while prices are rising indicates bullish sentiment in the market.

Velte Lunde, head of research at K33: “The relentless increase in CME open positions shows no signs of stopping. The growth rate recorded by CME open positions over the last 15 days is greater than the average notional open interest in CME in any year before 2022.”

According to Lunde, active and direct market participants are behind the rally. This group interacts directly with the futures market. The remaining growth may come from futures-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), such as the ProShare Bitcoin ETF (BITO).

The introduction of options tied to US spot ETFs will also help CME futures grow.

“CME open interest has surpassed 200K BTC and active market participants continue to be the force driving exposure higher. We expect CME futures to continue to improve with the launch of ETF options.”