Open interest in Ethereum futures is now above $5.6 billion while Ethereum price surpassed $ 1,600 for the first time in history

By Selena On Feb 4, 2021

According to data from Bybt, the open interest on Ethereum futures has hit a new ATH, soaring above $ 5.6 billion. This must be a good result that Ethereum price surpassed $ 1,600 for the first time in history, amid a two-digit rally earlier today.

Source: Bybt

Open interest in Ethereum futures is now above $ 5.6 billion

Binance is the number one destination for trading Ether futures with an open interest (OI) contract worth almost $ 1.5 billion. Bybit and Huobi took second and third place respectively. Followed by OKEx and FTX. Notably, the BitMEX exchange did not make it into the top 5.

While Ethereum is currently very hot, things could get wobbly with the launch of CME Group Ether futures.

JPMorgan’s Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou recently mentioned that the new product launch on Feb. 8 could lead to negative price dynamics.

Ether so far is unruffled. It climbed to an all-time high of about $1,573 Wednesday and has trounced Bitcoin’s 25% advance in 2021. The token is popular for so-called decentralized finance, which skirts traditional intermediaries such as banks. As ever with digital coins, speculators may also be trying to ride Ether’s momentum for quick gains.

Ether may not suffer the same fate as Bitcoin back in 2017, said Vijay Ayyar, head of Asia Pacific with crypto exchange Luno in Singapore.

He stated:

“For all you know, major players may be looking to get long exposure through futures, now that there is an institutional-grade product to do so. Smart traders moved to Ether when Bitcoin topped out around $40,000 and have made more money.”

In the background, Ether could also be affected by progress toward an upgrade of the affiliated Ethereum blockchain so it can process more transactions. The way the upgrade is done may curb the supply of the tokens.

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