Bitcoin Futures Open Interest Edges Down 0.3% After $80,000 Dip

Bitcoin (BTC) notional futures open interest fell only 0.3% to $36.4 billion in an Oct. 19 reading, leaving substantial exposure in the market after a dip below $80,000. The prior week’s reading was $36.5 billion. Open interest measures the value of outstanding futures contracts, not the cash traders posted as collateral. Its small decline does not establish how many positions closed. Payments by holders of long futures positions increased from $1.1 million to $1.6 million over the same period. That rise came while the notional value of open contracts changed little.