Setting up the Open Interest Screener

Last updated September 15, 2026

Open interest is the total of all positions that have not been closed. Price tells you where the market is going; open interest tells you how much money went into that move. Below is a walkthrough of every field: click an item and it lights up in the form.

One warning before you start. On Bybit and Gate, open interest is counted two-sided — longs and shorts are added together, so the number comes out twice as large. Absolute thresholds are therefore not directly comparable between exchanges, while a percentage change always is.

Scenarios

When should this screener fire?

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OI change

Sharp open-interest move — money entering or exiting positions

OI / price divergence

Open interest and price move in opposite directions. OI↑ + price↓ = short build (dump prep or future squeeze). OI↓ + price↑ = squeeze in progress.

Unusual move for this coin

Fires not on "moved N%" but on "N times larger than this coin normally moves". One threshold is equally correct on bitcoin and on a thin alt. Works together with the percentage threshold, not instead of it: a move must pass both.

Limits

Cap how often the screener may fire on a single coin

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When on, limits how many alerts the same coin can generate, so you do not get dozens of notifications about the same move.

Adjust to the market

The screener moves the value within your range on its own: when alerts are too frequent — toward the top, when there are almost none — toward the bottom. Recomputed once a day from your alert flow. Your numbers stay as you set them; the value in effect is always shown here.

Filters

Narrow what counts as a hit

Open interest screener trigger scenarios

The screener has two scenarios, and they answer different questions. The first is «how much money came in»: open interest rose or fell by a set percentage. The second is «does the money agree with the price»: open interest and price moved in opposite directions.

The «or OI change» field exists for large coins. On BTC, a fifty-million-dollar inflow is a fraction of a percent, and a percentage threshold will never see it. The absolute threshold works in parallel with the percentage one: the alert arrives on whichever fires first.

Limits: how many open interest alerts you are willing to read

Money flows into positions as a wave, not an instant: open interest climbs minute after minute while the position is being built. Without limits that turns into a stream of identical notifications about one coin.

Filters: which coins to measure open interest on

The minimum open interest matters more here than in other screeners. On a contract holding two hundred thousand dollars of open interest, a twenty-percent rise means one person opened a forty-thousand position. That is not a market event.

Ready-made setups

These are the same sets applied with one click in the screener settings. The values below are exactly what gets filled in.

Scalping on Early Interest

+5% in 5 min

Period: 30
Pause between alerts per coin: 30 min.
Min. Open Interest Value: 0.5 M $
Min. Exchange 24h Turnover: 10 M $

Logic: Catch the earliest OI spikes — rising OI can precede or accompany the start of a move. The $10m turnover floor filters out thin pairs, where an OI spike predicts nothing.

Trend Confirmation (Swing/Mid-term)

+20% in 4 hours

Period: 720
Pause between alerts per coin: 720 min.
Min. Open Interest Value: 20 M $
Min. Exchange 24h Turnover: 50 M $

Logic: Focus on large caps where significant capital entered over half a day — confirms a sustainable trend.

OI / price divergence (squeeze setup)

OI ↑ vs price ↓ in 30 min

Period: 360
Pause between alerts per coin: 180 min.
Min. Open Interest Value: 5 M $
Min. Exchange 24h Turnover: 10 M $

Logic: base OI trigger is off — only divergence fires. OI↑ while price↓ = traders are stacking shorts (dump prep or future squeeze). OI↓ while price↑ = squeeze already unwinding. 30-min window, OI ≥ 5%, price ≥ 1%, liquid alts only.

OI impulse + divergence

+8% in 15 min

Period: 120
Pause between alerts per coin: 120 min.
Min. Open Interest Value: 2 M $
Min. Exchange 24h Turnover: 10 M $

Logic: combo. Base scenario at 8% / 15 min catches sharp OI spikes; an additional divergence layer (60 min, OI ≥ 4%, price ≥ 1.5%) surfaces slower mismatches. One screener covers both fast impulse and reversal setup.

Any set is a starting point, not a recommendation. Once applied the thresholds are yours: move them and the screener starts counting the new way immediately.

Common mistakes when setting up the open interest screener

Carrying an absolute threshold across exchanges. Because some venues count both sides, the same dollar threshold stands for a different position size.

A short window on large coins. Five percent of BTC open interest in a minute almost never happens — that screener will stay silent.

Reading rising OI as a reason to buy. Growing open interest means money is coming in, but not from which side. Price alongside it gives the direction — which is exactly what the divergence scenario is for.