Open Interest (OI)

Open interest (OI) is the total notional value of leveraged positions currently open on a perpetual futures market — every open long is matched by an open short somewhere in the system, and OI counts one side of that total. It’s a fundamentally different metric from trading volume: volume measures how much has changed hands over a period (and resets every day), while OI is a snapshot of how much leveraged exposure is currently outstanding at any given moment.

High volume with flat or falling OI often means positions are being opened and closed quickly — churn, not conviction. Rising OI alongside rising volume tends to indicate new money entering the market and holding positions open, a stronger signal of genuine directional interest. This distinction matters directly for airdrop farming: several perp DEX points programs explicitly weight OI (holding a position open over time) alongside or instead of raw volume, specifically to reward genuine risk-taking over rapid wash-trading-style volume generation. See our pre-TGE farming roundup for platforms where OI matters to a points program’s scoring, and our Perpetuals category page for the broader mechanics.