Bitcoin price aims for a breakout of $70,000 as CME open interest hits an all-time high of $11.6 billion

Open Interest measures the total number of active Bitcoin futures contracts at any given time. Over the past five trading days, CME has seen a significant increase with an additional 25,125 BTC in open contracts – a number not seen in recent years.

The last time there was such a significant increase in CME Bitcoin futures was in June 2023, when open interest increased by 26,525 BTC, coinciding with BlackRock’s filing for the iShares Bitcoin Trust, a spot Bitcoin trust. ETF. During this period, the price of Bitcoin rose from $25,000 to $30,000.

In another case, there was a 25,115 BTC increase in open interest in October 2023 as CME overtook Binance to become the largest Bitcoin futures exchange. The price of Bitcoin then rose from $25,000 to over $40,000 by the end of the year.

Therefore, Bitcoin’s steady consolidation above the $67,000 support suggests that this uptrend could repeat, potentially pushing BTC above the $70,000 level in the coming days.

Analysts at K33 Research note that large institutional players are dominating the CME rally

Analysts at K33 Research, a Norwegian crypto broker, have identified large institutional investors and direct market participants as the main driving force behind this new surge in open Bitcoin interest on CME.

According to Vetle Lunde, senior analyst at K33 Research, this uptrend is being driven by active traders and not inflows into futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO).

“Growth is clearly being driven by active and direct market participants – not inflows into futures-based ETFs,” Lunde said.

CME data shows that direct participants currently hold 85,623 BTC in futures contracts, a similar number to March 2024 when Bitcoin was nearing its all-time high.