The total value of open Ethereum futures contracts has surpassed $1 billion for the first time ever, say market analysts.
The milestone comes as the price of ETH increases and Ethereum 2.0 progress, which gives investors confidence about the long-term potential of the decentralized protocol.
Open interest on Ethereum futures has increased almost 30% in the last month, from under $800 million to nearly $1.1 billion. Open interest is an important metric because it measures the raw amounts issuers and buyers have at stake in futures contracts with expiration dates still in the future.
Futures volume, by contrast, measures the value of existing futures contracts (which can be swapped like any other derivative) being traded in a given period.
ETH futures were on the rise early on in 2020, totaling close to $900 million before coronavirus fears and the subsequent US stock market crash pulled the crypto world down with it. By mid-March, ETH futures open interest had fallen to less than $400 million. Since then, ETH futures open interest has been on an unrelenting march upward, spurred on by the recent price increases.
While ETH futures are on their way up, they have a long way to go before taking on the current crypto financial contracts king, Bitcoin. BTC futures open interest passed the $4 billion mark on 21 July, but have increased at just half the rate of Ethereum futures interest since recent price jumps began.
