Bitcoin open interest rises $2.3 billion as price climbs above $86,000

Bitcoin open interest has risen from 626,000 BTC on September 30 to approximately 653,000 BTC ($56.2 billion), according to CoinGlass data. That is an increase of 27,000 BTC ($2.3 billion), or roughly 4.3%. Open interest measures outstanding futures and perpetual contracts that have not been closed or settled. Rising open interest indicates that traders are adding exposure, but does not show whether they expect prices to rise or fall. Bitcoin's price climbed from around $83,500 to $86,500 over the same period, ahead of Friday's U.S. jobs report. The price increase alongside rising open interest suggests new positions are helping support the rally. The perpetual funding rate rose from around 3% to 10% over the same period. Funding is a periodic payment between traders holding long and short positions that keeps perpetual futures prices close to the spot price. When funding is positive, traders betting on higher prices pay traders betting on lower prices. Strategy and Strive gained around 3% in premarket trading. Coinbase and Robinhood rose approximately 2% in premarket trading.