- Open interest in ETH futures reached an all-time high.
- Its funding rate remained positive across all stock exchanges.
Ethereum (ETH) futures open interest reached an all-time high as uncertainty deepens around the possible approval of an ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US.
Futures open interest refers to the total number of futures contracts for a currency that have not yet been settled or closed. When it increases, it indicates an increase in the number of market participants entering new positions.
According to AMBCrypto analysis coinglass’ According to data, the open interest in ETH futures on April 1 was $14.53 billion, an increase of 86% so far this year.
For context, ETH futures open interest was less than $10 billion at the beginning of the year.
March was good for the Ethereum futures market
On-chain data showed that the ETH futures market recorded a significant breakout in March.
ETH futures monthly trading volume on the largest cryptocurrency exchanges hit three-year levels over the 31-day period, according to AMBCrypto analysis on The Block data panel.
Our analysis from The Block revealed that ETH futures trading volume on these platforms exceeds $1 trillion. The last time the coin’s monthly trading volume was this high was in May 2021.
Following a similar trend, monthly currency futures trading volume on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) market also reached a three-year high.
With over 120,000 active users spanning 60 countries, CME is one of the largest derivatives exchanges in the world.
When trading volume in the stock market increases like this, it signals an increase in market participation by institutional investors such as hedge funds and large asset managers.
AMBCrypto found that over a 31-day period, CME Ethereum futures had a total monthly trading volume of $30 billion. The last time it was at this high was in November 2021.
The market is unaffected by recent headwinds
The price of ETH has faced major hurdles in the past month as it continues to face resistance at the $3,500 level at the time of publishing.
In fact, on March 20, the coin’s price fell to a 30-day low of $3,100 at the time of this publication, before recovering its gains to $3,354.
Despite this, funding rates for the coin remained positive on cryptocurrency exchanges at the time of publication.
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A positive funding rate is a good sign as it suggests increased market demand for bullish leveraged positions. This means that more market participants are taking trading positions in favor of the price rally.
At press time, the ETH funding rate was 0.019%.
This is an automatic translation of our English version.