Combined open interest across CME Bitcoin futures and perpetual futures has plunged by roughly 49,000 BTC over the past seven days, marking the biggest weekly decline since October 2025.
This happened very quietly, which is highly unusual.
This time, Bitcoin volatility has remained comparatively contained, liquidations have been modest and perpetual-futures funding rates have cooled.
CoinGlass data shows total Bitcoin futures open interest at approximately $52.89 billion, with Bitcoin trading near $84,070.
CoinGlass also recorded approximately $56.25 billion in Bitcoin futures trading volume over 24 hours.
CoinGlass showed only about $67.6 million in Bitcoin futures liquidations over the preceding 24 hours in its latest snapshot.
That is tiny relative to Bitcoin’s roughly $52.9 billion derivatives open-interest base.
There is obviously no deleveraging events that normally produce drops of this magnitude.
Bitcoin has remained relatively stable despite the massive contraction of derivatives.
October 2025 was completely different
Bitcoin’s last much larger derivatives reset came during the historic October 10 liquidation event.
CoinGlass data at the time showed billions of dollars in open interest disappearing as a violent market decline automatically closed leveraged positions. Back then, roughly $9.55 billion of open interest had already been erased.
The ultimate liquidation total across the cryptocurrency market exceeded $19 billion within 24 hours. Bitcoin futures were hit particularly hard.
The CME expiry complicates the picture
There is one important caveat when interpreting the 49,000 BTC decline.
The seven-day measurement spans the expiration of CME’s September Bitcoin contract on Sept. 25.
That means some of the reduction in CME open interest can be mechanical.
The CME portion of the 49,000 BTC reduction should therefore not automatically be interpreted as institutions abandoning Bitcoin exposure.
However, the derivatives data still serves as evidence of meaningful deleveraging.
Arman Shirinyan
Dan Burgin
