Open Interest
a.k.a. OI
The number of futures or options contracts still open, not yet closed out or settled.
Open interest counts how many contracts are still alive in a futures or options market. Every contract has a buyer and a seller; when a new pair opens one, open interest goes up by one. When someone closes an existing contract, it goes down.
It is different from volume, which counts every trade that happened today. Traders read the two together: price rising with open interest rising suggests fresh money is backing the move; price rising while open interest falls suggests shorts are just closing out, which may not last.
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