BTC Open Interest API

Bitcoin futures open interest — measures total leverage exposure and speculative activity in derivatives markets.

Webhook URL

https://api.hunchmachine.com/webhook/indicators?indicator=btc_open_interest&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY

Description

Tracks the total value of outstanding Bitcoin futures contracts (Open Interest, or OI) across major exchanges. Open interest reflects the overall level of participation and leverage in the derivatives market — rising OI signals growing speculative exposure, while declining OI often points to deleveraging or position closures.

What this endpoint provides

A high-level view of open interest dynamics with recent percentage change, directional classification, and qualitative interpretation of leverage conditions. It helps automations and AI agents detect when speculative activity is building up or cooling down.

Response fields

value

Current total BTC open interest (in USD).

change_7d_pct

Percentage change in open interest over the last 7 days.

trend

Directional label describing whether OI is increasing or decreasing (up, down, or neutral).

momentum_state

Describes the pace of change (accelerating, weakening, stable).

interpretation

Text explanation of leverage dynamics (e.g., "Stable OI — no significant change in leverage.").

summary

Preformatted, human-readable summary string combining values and interpretation.

timestamp

UTC time when the indicator was last updated.

Output example

[
  {
    "indicator": "btc_open_interest",
    "timestamp": "2025-11-01T02:36:35.811Z",
    "value": 8584792196.57,
    "change_7d_pct": -0.52,
    "trend": "neutral",
    "momentum_state": "stable",
    "interpretation": "Stable OI — no significant change in leverage.",
    "summary": "Open Interest: $8,584,792,196.57 | 7d change: -0.52% | Stable OI — no significant change in leverage."
  }
]

Interpretation & Use

Open interest serves as a measure of speculative engagement and leverage risk. • Rising OI + rising price → Fresh long positioning, potential trend reinforcement. • Rising OI + falling price → Increasing short exposure, possible build-up of bearish leverage. • Falling OI → Position unwinding or liquidations; leverage cooling down. Automations can combine trend and momentum_state with funding metrics to classify leverage phases (e.g., “aggressive long buildup,” “neutral,” or “deleveraging”), or feed the summary directly into reasoning layers for contextual understanding of market risk exposure.