How CoinGecko Records Single-Sided Open Interest

CoinGecko records all derivatives open interest on a single-sided basis, so every open contract is counted exactly once. Because exchanges report open interest in different ways, we use one of three methods to get there, depending on what each exchange provides and how its market is structured.

This page explains what single-sided open interest is, how each method works, and what it means for the data you see on CoinGecko and through our API.

What is single-sided open interest?

Open interest is the total amount of outstanding derivatives contracts, such as perpetual swaps and futures, that have not yet been closed or settled.

Every contract has two sides: a long and a short. Single-sided open interest counts each contract once. Double-sided open interest counts both the long and the short side, so the same contract is counted twice.

For example, if Trader A opens a 1 BTC long and Trader B takes the matching 1 BTC short:

• Single-sided open interest = 1 BTC

• Double-sided open interest = 2 BTC

Single-sided reporting is the widely adopted convention in traditional futures and derivatives markets, and it is the standard CoinGecko uses for all exchanges.

How we calculate single-sided open interest

We apply one of three methods to each exchange:

1. Direct from the exchange

When an exchange already reports single-sided open interest, we use its figure as provided, with no adjustment.

Example: An exchange reports 10,000 BTC of single-sided open interest. CoinGecko displays 10,000 BTC.

2. Divided by two

On order book exchanges, every long position is matched by a short position of the same size, so a double-sided figure is exactly twice the single-sided figure. When an exchange reports only double-sided open interest, we divide it by two.

Example: An exchange reports 20,000 BTC of double-sided open interest. CoinGecko displays 20,000 ÷ 2 = 10,000 BTC.

3. Summed for liquidity pool-based exchanges

On liquidity pool-based exchanges, such as GMX-style perpetual DEXs, traders do not trade against each other. Each trader’s long or short position is taken by the liquidity pool (LPs) on the other side. Long and short positions are therefore separate contracts, not two sides of the same one, and longs and shorts are usually not equal in size. To count each contract once, we add total long open interest and total short open interest together.

Example: Traders hold $60M in long positions and $40M in short positions against the pool. CoinGecko displays $60M + $40M = $100M. Dividing by two here would undercount the market, because each position has only one trader side.