When I started this 100 Days of Crypto journey, all I wanted was to understand the basics.
Wallets. Bridges. Gas fees.
Just enough so I could survive conversations without smiling and pretending I knew what was going on.
Then life took a turn.
I unexpectedly landed a role in derivatives research, a space I never imagined myself in.
Suddenly, I wasn’t just studying crypto for fun.
I was studying it because analysts, traders, and researchers actually use this data to understand the market.
And that shift changed everything.
Today’s topic, Open Interest, is the first metric that made me feel like I was reading the market not as a beginner…
but as someone finally stepping behind the curtain.
So what is Open Interest, really?
Open Interest (OI) is simply:
The number of open contracts traders haven’t closed yet.
That’s it.
Not how many bought.
Not how many sold.
Not how much volume there was.
OI answers one question:
“How many traders are still in the game?”
It’s the count of active long and short positions that are still open.
Not settled.
Not closed.
Still alive.
It’s the part of the market that isn’t visible on the price chart, but completely changes how you read it.
Why this matters (the real answer I learned at work)
Price tells you what happened.
OI tells you who’s still here after it happened.
A rising price with rising OI?
People are piling in, strong conviction.
A rising price with falling OI?
People are taking profits, trend might weaken.
A dropping price with rising OI?
Shorts are entering, possible downtrend forming.
A dropping price with falling OI?
Positions are closing, fear is cooling down.
For the first time, I understood why analysts often look at OI before they look at price.
Because price moves.
But OI explains why the move matters.
A Base moment
While trying to follow OI changes today, I transferred a bit of USDC to Base so I could interact quickly with a DEX and track OI in real time.
Here’s what I noticed:
On Base, everything settled instantly.
Which meant:
- no missing the OI spike
- no delayed confirmations
- no worrying about gas fees piling up
- no losing the moment
Being able to transact fast gave me a clearer view of how OI changes when traders open or close positions.
Base didn’t make OI easier to understand,
but it made OI easier to observe.
That’s an important difference.
Mom Analogy, OI as who stays after the birthday party starts
Imagine you host a birthday party.
People arrive.
People go home.
Some stay.
Some leave early.
At any moment, you can tell how lively the room is by counting who’s still there, not who came and went.
That’s Open Interest.
It’s the headcount of who stayed.
And that headcount tells you how strong the party is, no matter how loud the music gets.
Price is the music.
OI is the number of guests still dancing.
Why OI feels like “professional mode unlocked”
Because OI isn’t about guessing.
It’s about reading participation.
Trends aren’t just about direction.
They’re about commitment.
And for the first time in my journey, I understood what analysts meant by:
“Price moves are only as strong as the interest behind them.”
OI shows that interest.
It made me feel like,
“Hey… maybe I’m actually learning to see the market the way researchers do.”
Takeaway
Open Interest is the quiet data point that reveals the strength behind every move.
It’s not loud.
It’s not dramatic.
But it’s powerful.
And now that I can read it,
the market suddenly feels less random, like I finally have a backstage pass.
OI is just the beginning.
Which metric should I break down next, funding rate, liquidations, or implied volatility?
I’ll simplify whichever one feels the scariest.
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