Bitcoin’s new all-time high masks muted futures activity

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high on Thursday, May 22, closing at $111,390 after briefly touching an intraday peak of $112,000. The milestone capped a 45% rally that began in early April, when BTC was trading at $76,450.Before this uptrend, BTC had declined from over $100,000 in January to around $76,000, largely due to trade war concerns, particularly from aggressive tariff threats issued by the United States. In early April, however, President Donald Trump announced a 90-day suspension of those tariffs to facilitate trade talks. That policy shift marked the market bottom for risk assets, with BTC rallying over 45% in the weeks that followed to set new highs.Traditional markets rallied in tandem. The S&P 500 climbed more than 20%, while the Nasdaq jumped 27% during the same period.Alongside BTC’s rally in recent weeks, the price of ETH has also experienced a similarly impressive performance. The price of ETH has risen from $1,470 on April 8 to $2,530 as of May 25. This marks a notable 72% increase in a span of seven weeks for the second-largest non-stablecoin crypto asset by market capitalization. This was also what triggered the largest amount of single-day short liquidations for the year so far, with over $670 million in total short liquidations at the time, as discussed in our newsletter two weeks ago.Interestingly, despite BTC trading at all-time highs as of the time of writing, open interest (OI) paints a more nuanced picture.OI is the estimated notional value of all open futures positions, or the aggregate dollar value of outstanding contract-specified BTC deliverables. OI of BTC futures on Binance stands at $12.5 billion, nearly 10% lower than its record high of $13.7 billion from the second week of December 2024.On the other hand, the aggregated OI of BTC futures on Bybit currently stands at $7.6 billion, which is still 15% lower than its record high of $8.95 billion from the second week of December 2024. Even more telling, Bybit’s OI is still down 10% from as recently as Feb. 21, when it hit $8.5 billion.The lower OI levels suggest that, despite the spot price rally, derivatives traders have not returned with the same level of leverage and conviction seen during past highs.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.