BitMEX's open interest in bitcoin perpetual contracts has fallen by more than 50% to its lowest level in 18 months

BlockBeats reports that the open interest in perpetual contracts on BitMEX, the cryptographic derivatives trading platform, has fallen to 55,000 bitcoins, the lowest level in 18 months. In the past 12 days, BitMEX's open interest in bitcoin versus XBT/ dollar has fallen more than 50 percent from 115,000 to 55,000 bitcoins.

While BitMEX's open interest has fallen from $1.2bn to $500m, that of its rivals has soared. The amount of open interest on FTX rose from $68 million to $128 million in the past 12 days. Similarly, Bybit rose from $35 million on March 14 to $100 million on March 22.

Emmanuel Goh, chief executive of Skew, said total open interest in the encryption market had fallen 50 per cent from its mid-february peak. By mid-february, when bitcoin was trading near $10,500, global open interest had exceeded $5 billion. At press time, the total position was about $1.6 billion.

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