Ethereum perpetual futures open interest surges and hits record high on Deribit.

Since early February, open interest in ether perpetual futures has surged on major centralized cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges. Open Interest ETH

+3.51%
Currently, futures on various exchanges are More than $10.1 billion, according to Coinglass.

The total number of outstanding perpetual futures contracts on Ethereum on the Deribit cryptocurrency derivatives exchange has reached an all-time high. Deribit’s open interest currently stands at over $690 million, according to data.

A perpetual contract is a type of futures contract with no expiration date, allowing traders to hold positions indefinitely.

An increase in open interest indicates a higher level of trading activity and participation in Ether derivatives. This means that market interest, speculation or hedging activity related to Ether could potentially increase, especially in anticipation of upcoming price catalysts.

One such catalyst is the potential approval of a spot ether ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming months. For example, investment firm Franklin Templeton, along with other asset managers, took the first step toward possibly issuing a spot ether ETF by filing an S-1 registration statement with the SEC on Monday.

Ethereum futures perpetual open interest hits an all-time high on Deribit. Image: Deribit.

Daily Ether futures open interest on Binance, ByBit, OKX, and CME also increased, according to The Block’s data dashboard. Among these centralized exchanges, Binance’s Ether futures open interest reached nearly $3 billion, the highest in several months, according to data.

Ethereum futures funding rate increase

Since early February, the funding rate for Ether perpetual futures contracts on the Deribit central derivatives exchange has increased from 0.00045% to the current value of 0.035%. A higher funding rate means that long positions (buyers) pay more to short positions (sellers).

Funding rates for the Ether perpetual futures contract have been increasing since early February. Image: Deribit.

This indicates increasing demand for long futures positions in the Ethereum derivatives market. This upward trend may reflect more bullish sentiment towards the digital asset, meaning more traders are anticipating an upward move in the price of Ether in the coming months.

Ether price rose 1.57% to $2,841 at 7:57 a.m. ET, according to The Block’s pricing page.

In the last 24 hours, the price of Ether has risen by more than 1%. Image: Block.

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