Practical guide
Open Interest vs Volume: What Each One Tells You
Volume counts how much has traded over a period. Open interest counts how many positions are currently outstanding. A market can have high volume with flat open interest, or the reverse.
Volume measures activity
High volume with unchanged open interest suggests existing positions are trading hands rather than new positions being opened.
Open interest measures exposure
Rising open interest alongside rising price suggests new long positions are being opened; rising open interest alongside falling price suggests the opposite.
Read them together
Neither figure alone is a signal. Read open interest, volume and funding together, and treat all three as context rather than a forecast.
Explore the relevant apps
See the full Perpetuals Tools workflow.