Open Interest Goes Bonkers: Bitcoin and ETH Futures Surge $4.3B as Traders Smell a Ceasefire

Bitcoin and Ethereum futures just went on a shopping spree, and the market is noticing.

Perpetual futures open interest surged by $2.1 billion for Bitcoin and $2.2 billion for Ethereum over the last 24 hours, hitting their highest dollar-denominated levels since last month, according to CryptoQuant. Bitcoin open interest is now at its highest in over two months, while Ethereum hasn't seen these levels in about three weeks.

The culprit? A conditional ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran has traders front-running an anticipated improvement in broader risk sentiment. "This synchronized surge across both major assets reflects macro-event-driven positioning," CryptoQuant noted. The firm also confirmed that coin-denominated open interest increased significantly for both assets, ruling out short liquidations as the primary driver and confirming traders are opening net new long positions.

About $182 million in shorts have been liquidated over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin trades at $72,103 and Ethereum at $2,216 on Thursday—each jumping more than 7% in the last week. Bitcoin touched its highest price in about three weeks earlier Thursday, reversing "weeks of sustained bearish price action driven by macro uncertainty."

The Coinbase Premium Index, which tracks the price difference between Coinbase and Binance, has turned positive for both BTC and ETH. In other words, prices are drifting higher on Coinbase than Binance—a signal that U.S. investors are increasing demand. "The simultaneous flip to positive for both BTC and ETH suggests broad-based U.S. demand re-engagement," CryptoQuant wrote.

Despite the resurgence, both assets remain well off their all-time highs. Bitcoin trades around 43% off its ATH of $126,080, while Ethereum has fallen 55% from its August high of $4,946.

In unrelated news, a solo Bitcoin miner scored a major victory on Thursday, earning a BTC reward valued at more than $225,000 after solving a Bitcoin block—just a week after the last reported solo score. The miner had roughly 0.001% odds of achieving the feat based on their mining hash power of 70TH.

Meanwhile, BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) was uplisted to the NYSE on Thursday, with shares recently changing hands around $21.75—up nearly 1% since opening on the new trading venue.

And in the meme coin corner, Canary Capital thrust Pepe into the spotlight Wednesday with an application for an ETF tracking the meme coin's price. The token's muted reaction—trading around $0.00000359, up about 0.6%—may serve as the latest sign of Wall Street's tepid appetite for assets that trade on vibes.