Chainlink Open Interest Archives

Chainlink Open Interest Crosses $450 Million

The Chainlink open interest ended the month of January on a high note and carried this trend into the month of February. A major jump was seen between January 31 and February 3 when the open interest went from below $250 million to more than $320 million.

In the days following this, the open interest continued to rise, and eventually hit a peak of $533 million. This was significant because it was not just the highest point for the year but it is the highest that the open interest has ever been for the asset.

As expected, the price would quickly rise to keep up with the open interest as investors continued to place their bets on the price. There has been a retracement in the open interest. However, Chainlink has continued to maintain more than $450 million in open interest since February 12.

Currently, Coinglass data shows that the Chainlink open interest is $456 million as of February 23, continuing to maintain a high level. Given this, it might be prudent to look at how the LINK price has reacted in the past when open interest remained elevated.

Historical Performance Of The LINK Price

While the Chainlink open interest is at record levels, there have been times in the past where the open interest had been elevated for a period of time like it is now. So, how the price reacted during those periods could provide a pointer for how it might perform now.

The last time that the open interest was this elevated for a long period of time was back in October-November 2023 when open interest more than doubled. It would maintain this elevated level for almost a month, but at the end of it, the LINK price would react positively and saw a price surge from $11 to $15, which was a 36% increase in price.

If this scenario were to repeat now, then a 36% increase would send the LINK price to $24. This is not particularly hard to believe, given that the LINK price had topped out at $52 in the last bull market. So, such a move would still leave it 50% below its all-time high levels.

On the flip side of this, the open interest levels could also taper off, as was seen in November 2023. This could see the LINK open interest lose its hold on the $450 million that it maintained in February and fall toward $400 million before recovering again.

Data shows Solana and Chainlink are among the top cryptocurrencies that have observed growth in Open Interest to relatively high levels.

Solana & Chainlink Have Their Open Interest At Notable Values Currently

According to data from the on-chain analytics firm Santiment, there has been a dramatic increase in interest in the derivative market for cryptocurrencies recently.

The indicator of relevance here is the “Open Interest,” which keeps track of the total amount of derivative contracts for any given asset that is currently open on all centralized exchanges.

When the value of this metric goes up, it means that the investors are increasing positions on the derivative side of the market. Such a trend may be a predictor for higher volatility, as the total leverage in the sector tends to go up when new futures positions pop up.

On the other hand, a decrease in the indicator implies the holders are closing up their positions or are getting forcefully liquidated by their platform, thus leading to the leverage potentially coming down. As such, this kind of trend can result in the asset’s price becoming more stable.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Open Interest for various top assets in the cryptocurrency sector over the past year:

Solana & Chainlink Open Interest

As displayed in the above graph, the Open Interest has exploded for Bitcoin and Ethereum recently as the latest surge in prices has occurred. Generally, such sharp price action attracts a large amount of speculators to the assets, so the indicator’s upward trajectory isn’t surprising.

The scale of the increase, though, may be a bit concerning. From the chart, it’s visible that the BTC Open Interest is currently around $9.85 billion, while for ETH, it’s about $5.59 billion.

Among the altcoins, Solana and Chainlink have particularly stood out, as the indicator has touched $1.62 billion and $549 million for them, respectively. These are much smaller values than Bitcoin and Ethereum, of course, but their market caps are also much smaller than these two titans.

“With Bitcoin, in particular, crossing over $10B in open interest for the first time since July, 2022, this does signal crowd euphoria is alive and well,” notes the analytics firm. “Sometimes rising too quickly can be indicative of some caution flags.”

The reason that a high Open Interest has historically been a cause for concern is that mass liquidation events become more probable to occur in such market conditions, due to an abundance of leverage.

Such events, where liquidations can cascade together, are usually chaotic and result in some sharp price action. As Solana, Chainlink, and other top assets have a potentially overheated Open Interest right now, they may be ones to watch in the coming days, as any further increases might serve as a warning.