Bitcoin Open Interest Drops Below Half of July Peak as Market Deleveraging Continues

TL;DR

• Bitcoin open interest has dropped from nearly $45 billion to $20.4 billion, reflecting a major reduction in market leverage.
• The decline followed several liquidation events that gradually unwound leveraged futures positions.
• Bitcoin’s price and open interest have fallen at a similar pace, pointing to an orderly deleveraging process.
• Despite the sharp reduction in leverage, the data does not confirm that Bitcoin has reached a market bottom.

The Bitcoin (BTC) futures market has undergone a significant reduction in leverage, with open interest declining from a peak of nearly $45 billion in July 2025 to approximately $20.4 billion, according to CryptoQuant data. The decline reflects a broad unwinding of leveraged positions rather than a sudden market collapse, as both Bitcoin’s price and open interest have fallen at a comparable pace.

Open interest represents the total notional value of outstanding futures contracts. A decline in this metric indicates that positions are being closed, either through liquidations or traders voluntarily reducing exposure. The latest data shows that more than 45% of peak leverage has been removed from the market.

Open Interest Decline Mirrors Bitcoin’s Price Correction

CryptoQuant’s data shows that the reduction in open interest coincided with several notable liquidation events over the past year. The largest occurred on October 10, when Bitcoin fell from an all-time high near $122,574 to roughly $105,000 following record single-day liquidations.

The deleveraging continued into early February, when open interest declined by more than 20% within days as Bitcoin dropped to around $61,000. Additional liquidations through June further reduced outstanding futures positions, bringing total open interest down to approximately $20.4 billion.

According to the data, leverage and Bitcoin’s price have declined at a similar rate throughout the period. This pattern suggests that excess leverage has been gradually removed from the market instead of triggering a disorderly selloff where prices fall much faster than positions are unwound.

Data Shows Deleveraging Has Continued, but Does Not Confirm a Market Bottom

Despite the sharp decline in leverage, the available data does not indicate that Bitcoin has reached a market bottom. Historical observations note that falling open interest has previously been followed by extended periods of sideways trading or additional price declines before a sustained recovery emerged.

Current open interest also remains well above the levels recorded during 2023, when it fell to roughly $10 billion, indicating that further deleveraging remains possible based on historical comparisons.

Meanwhile, the weekly Bitcoin price chart shows the asset trading below $60,000, just below the $68,000–$70,000 range, an area that served as a previous support and resistance zone. 

Bitcoin was changing hands at approximately $59,227 as of press time as prices continued to struggle, while volume delta remained negative, reflecting continued selling pressure during the period shown.

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