Binance dominates the Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures market among crypto exchanges measured by Open Interest (OI). The exchange open interest share is at 30% for Bitcoin and 31% for ETH, equivalent to $9.8 billion and $5.1 billion respectively. Other exchanges with high OI include Bybit, Gate.io, HTX and OKX.
Binance shows the faster OI expansion in periods where Bitcoin and ETH rally significantly, indicating that traders heavily use the exchange to gain Bitcoin and ETH exposure. For Bitcoin, this was the case in November 2024 and may 2025, as the price crossed the $100K mark and reached new all-time highs. In the case of ETH, Binance showed the fastest OI expansion in the same periods as the price rallied 73% and 44% respectively.
Binance also shows the most activity amid market volatility. On June 21, as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East suddenly escalated, Binance showed by far the largest decrease in OI as prices fell– $2.1 billion–, indicating traders closed their long positions in order to take profits off the table.
A high open interest suggests deep liquidity, attracting large traders due to better execution and tighter spreads. It reflects trader confidence in the platform's reliability, fees, execution speed, and available leverage.
Written by CQ Research
