In a significant development in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin’s (BTC) open interest on derivatives exchanges witnessed an abrupt increase of $1 billion on September 18. This sudden surge has left investors speculating whether influential players, often referred to as “whales,” are accumulating assets in anticipation of the unsealing of Binance’s court filings.
Despite initial concerns of market manipulation, a closer examination of derivatives metrics reveals a more nuanced perspective. Notably, the funding rate, a key indicator of market sentiment, did not display conclusive signs of excessive buying demand.
Market data illustrates that BTC futures aggregate open interest in USD saw a substantial uptick, as depicted by the green line on the left in the graph below.
Additionally, monitoring the BTC futures average 8-hour funding rate, as indicated in the graph below, did not reveal a sharp surge that would typically accompany significant buying pressure.
As the crypto community ponders the implications of this remarkable surge in open interest, the question of whether this activity is driven by market manipulation or a strategic hedging approach remains at the forefront of discussions.
