Crypto metrics: how to read price, volume, open interest, and funding together

Each crypto metric answers its own question. Price shows what happened, turnover shows how much money took part, open interest shows whether new positions are opening, and funding shows which side pays to hold them. A move read from one metric almost always has two explanations, and a second metric tells them apart.

In short

Price answers “what happened”, turnover answers “how much money took part”, and open interest answers “are new positions opening”.
A price rise on turnover several times above normal and one in an empty market are different events.
Price and OI together show what is driving the move: new positions or old ones closing. Funding adds which side is overpaying.
No combination of metrics predicts price: it describes what is happening now.

Which metric answers which question

Metric	Question	Where it exists
Price	What happened to the coin	Spot and futures
Volume	How many coins changed hands	Spot and futures
Turnover	How much that is in dollars	Spot and futures
Open interest	Are positions opening or closing	Futures
Funding	Which side pays to hold a position	Perpetual futures
Liquidity	Can you get in and out without moving price	Spot and futures
Market cap	How big the coin is	A property of the coin, not the market

Volume is counted in coins, turnover in dollars: volume multiplied by price. Liquidity isn't a single number: it's judged by the order book and spread, and roughly by daily turnover. Market cap, price multiplied by circulating supply, tells you the size of a project but not how actively it trades. Each metric has its own article: price, volume and turnover, liquidity. Why OI and funding exist only on futures is covered in spot vs futures.

Why one metric isn't enough: four traps

All numbers below are illustrative examples.

A price rise without turnover

Coins A and B both rose 8% in an hour. A traded $150k that hour against a usual $100k, B traded $12m against a usual $2m. A single large order in a thin book could have moved A, while B's move had 6 times more money behind it than usual.

Turnover without open interest

24h turnover rose 40%, while OI stayed flat. Trading was active, but no new positions were added in the end: some closed as much as others opened. Without OI it's easy to mistake this for money flowing in.

A percentage off a small base

Turnover going from $200k to $400k is +100%, while $50m to $60m is only +20%. The second case added 50 times more money. That's why a percentage threshold goes together with a dollar floor.

OI in dollars grows from price alone

A pair's OI is $60m. Price rises 10%, and OI in dollars becomes $66m, though not a single new position opened. Check inflows in coins — more in the open interest article.

Price and open interest: new positions or old ones closing

OI shows no direction on its own: every contract has a long and a short. Together with price it tells you what is driving the move:

Price ↑, OI ↑. New positions open on the rise.
Price ↑, OI ↓. The rise runs on shorts closing, some by force.
Price ↓, OI ↑. New positions open on the drop, more often shorts.
Price ↓, OI ↓. Longs are closing or getting liquidated.

An illustrative example: price rose 3% in 30 minutes. If OI is +6% over the same period, new positions opened on the pair. If OI is −4%, the rise runs on shorts closing, and it can end once there's nothing left to close. Where OI is changing most right now is on the open interest page.

Open interest and funding: which side is building positions

OI shows that there are more positions, but not whose. The funding rate adds the imbalance: when it's positive, longs pay shorts, meaning demand for longs is higher. A negative rate means the opposite.

An illustrative example: over 4 hours price barely moved, OI is +10%, and the rate rose from +0.01% to +0.08% per 8 hours. Positions are piling up, and longs are willing to pay more and more for them: a $10,000 long now costs $8 per funding instead of $1. This describes a crowded side but doesn't say which way price will break. Pairs with the largest rates are on the funding extremes page.

Reading four metrics at once: a worked example

An illustrative example: a futures pair over one hour. Let's see what each metric adds.

Price +6%. There is a move, but it's unclear how much money is behind it.
24h turnover: $30m → $36m. The last hour brought $6m more than the hour that dropped out of the 24-hour window. Real money is involved, not a single order.
OI +8%. New positions are opening on the rise, not just shorts closing.
Funding: +0.01% → +0.06%. Demand for longs has grown: holding them now costs 6 times more.

The takeaway: the rise runs on new positions with high activity, and demand for longs dominates. The combination doesn't tell you what comes next: a pair crowded with longs may keep rising, or it may drop sharply once longs start closing, some by force.

How to track a combination of metrics across the market

Watching price, turnover, and OI across hundreds of pairs at once by hand is impossible. The Custom screener turns the combination into one rule with three conditions: a change in open interest, price, and 24h turnover. For each you set a percentage threshold and its own interval, from 1 minute to 4 hours; disabled conditions are ignored.

How the screener checks the rule:

All enabled conditions must be met at the same time and on the same venue.
The alert comes in the minute the combination forms, not every minute while it holds.
The OI condition is checked only on futures venues: spot has no open interest. You can also pick the market explicitly in the “Which market to watch” field.
Thin pairs are cut by the minimum open interest and minimum 24h turnover filters, set in millions of dollars.
Funding isn't part of the rule, but the venue's rate comes in the alert along with the change in each enabled metric and the 24h price range.

An illustrative rule: OI +3% in 15 minutes, price +2% in 15 minutes, 24h turnover +5% in 1 hour, and a minimum 24h turnover of $20m. The alert comes for a pair where new positions open on a price rise with trading picking up, and where more than $20m traded over the day. The screener doesn't tell you whether to enter: it shows where the picture formed.

How the screener helps

The screener checks a three-condition rule every minute on every pair across the exchanges you pick — up to 10 spot and 9 futures venues. A push or Telegram alert arrives when all enabled conditions are met at once. No need to pick a coin.

Open the custom screener

Crypto metrics FAQ

How are price and open interest related?

OI shows whether positions are opening or closing, and price shows which way the move goes. Price rising with OI means new positions on the rise; price rising while OI falls means shorts closing.

What is the difference between volume and turnover?

Volume is how many coins traded over a period, and turnover is the same in dollars. Turnover is easier to compare between coins with different prices.

Which matters more: volume or open interest?

They answer different questions. Volume shows trading activity, OI shows how many positions stayed open. High volume with flat OI means some traders closed as much as others opened.

What does rising open interest with positive funding mean?

There are more positions, and longs pay shorts, so demand for longs is higher. That is a one-sided imbalance, not a forecast: the crowded side may keep pushing or run into liquidations.

Why can a percentage rise in turnover mean nothing?

Percentages are large off a small base: going from $200k to $400k is +100%, but only $200k. Pair a percentage threshold with a minimum turnover in dollars.

How are market cap and liquidity related?

Not directly. Market cap is price multiplied by circulating supply; liquidity is how large a trade the market absorbs without moving price. A coin with a large market cap can still have a thin order book.

Can I get an alert when several conditions are met at once?

Yes, in the Custom screener: conditions on OI, price, and 24h turnover changes are checked together, and the alert comes when all enabled ones are met on the same venue.

Ready-made condition combinations and how to read them are in “Custom screener use cases”. Every form field is explained in the Custom screener settings.