Crypto derivatives report: 2021
Open interest on Binance and Bybit went from $1.18B on 1 Jan 2021 to $7.98B on 31 Dec 2021 (+578%), peaking at $9.11B on 1 Dec 2021. Funding averaged BTC 0.0280% per 8h (about 30.6% APR) and ETH 0.0343% per 8h (about 37.5% APR) over 2021.
Key numbers: 2021
perpetual futures · UTC1. Open interest
daily average per exchange, USDOpen interest on Binance and Bybit went from $1.18B on 1 Jan 2021 to $7.98B on 31 Dec 2021 (+578%), peaking at $9.11B on 1 Dec 2021. Bitcoin ended the period with 48% of it ($3.83B, +229%). Across the 2 exchanges recorded on 31 Dec 2021, Binance held the largest share, 90% of $7.98B.
Covers Binance and Bybit for the whole period. The chart and the changes use only the exchanges recorded on both 1 Jan 2021 and 31 Dec 2021 (Binance, Bybit). Before this site recorded them live, the numbers for Binance and Bybit come from the exchanges' own hourly history. Coverage
| Coin | 1 Jan 2021 | 31 Dec 2021 | Change | Peak | Peak day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | $1.16B | $3.83B | +229.30% | $4.69B | 9 Nov 2021 |
| ETH | — | $1.92B | — | $1.98B | 28 Dec 2021 |
| BNB | — | $225.5M | — | $301.0M | 9 Dec 2021 |
| SOL | — | $212.2M | — | $301.8M | 2 Dec 2021 |
| DOT | — | $200.4M | — | $311.8M | 1 Dec 2021 |
| XRP | — | $192.0M | — | $317.6M | 1 Dec 2021 |
| ADA | — | $157.6M | — | $292.4M | 2 Dec 2021 |
| DOGE | — | $130.2M | — | $231.5M | 1 Dec 2021 |
| AVAX | — | $129.7M | — | $157.3M | 22 Dec 2021 |
| NEAR | — | $125.2M | — | $163.9M | 23 Dec 2021 |
| All coins | $1.18B | $7.98B | +578.35% | $9.11B | 1 Dec 2021 |
Exchange share of open interest
| Exchange | 1 Jan 2021 | Share | 31 Dec 2021 | Share | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | $1.08B | 91.7% | $7.22B | 90.4% | +569.32% |
| Bybit | $98.1M | 8.3% | $763.0M | 9.6% | +677.57% |
Download: coins (CSV) · exchanges (CSV)
2. Funding
mean of each day's OI-weighted 8h rateFunding averaged BTC 0.0280% per 8h (about 30.6% APR) and ETH 0.0343% per 8h (about 37.5% APR) over 2021. BTC funding was negative on 29 of 365 days. The most positive liquid coin was XLM at 52.3% APR; the most negative SHIB at -9.5% APR.
Covers Binance for the whole period. Before this site recorded them live, the rates for Binance are the settled funding from the exchanges' own history. Coverage
| Coin | Average per 8h | Annualized | Negative days | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | 0.0280% | 30.6% | 29 | 365 |
| ETH | 0.0343% | 37.5% | 12 | 365 |
| BNB | 0.0198% | 21.7% | 116 | 365 |
| SOL | 0.0261% | 28.6% | 22 | 365 |
| DOT | 0.0386% | 42.2% | 26 | 365 |
| XRP | 0.0440% | 48.1% | 13 | 365 |
| ADA | 0.0365% | 39.9% | 25 | 365 |
| DOGE | 0.0352% | 38.5% | 38 | 365 |
| AVAX | 0.0284% | 31.0% | 50 | 365 |
| NEAR | 0.0344% | 37.7% | 18 | 365 |
| Coin | Annualized | Days |
|---|---|---|
| XLM | 52.3% | 365 |
| XRP | 48.1% | 365 |
| AAVE | 47.8% | 365 |
| ATOM | 46.4% | 365 |
| LINK | 43.0% | 365 |
| Coin | Annualized | Days |
|---|---|---|
| SHIB | -9.5% | 236 |
Download: funding (CSV)
3. Liquidations
UTC days · longs / shortsNo liquidations are recorded for 2021. This site stores liquidations from 27 Sep 2026.
4. Volume
quote volume, USD · perp and spotNo trading volume is stored for 2021.
5. Hyperliquid
vs the centralized exchanges · HIP-3Hyperliquid is not recorded for 2021.
Cite this report
permalinkswolecharts, “Crypto Derivatives Report: 2021”, published 1 January 2022, https://swolecharts.com/reports/2021Free to quote and embed with a link back to /reports/2021.
Methodology
- Days are UTC. Open interest is each perpetual market's average for the day, summed per coin and exchange; HIP-3 markets are left out of the crypto totals.
- Funding is each day's open-interest-weighted average of the 8-hour-equivalent rate across exchanges, averaged over the days with data; annualized = rate × 3 × 365.
- Live data is what this site recorded from each exchange's public API. Before that, Binance and Bybit open interest come from the exchanges' published hourly history and Binance and Hyperliquid funding from their settled rates; the live record wins wherever both exist.
- Liquidations come from the exchanges' public liquidation feeds; some feeds are sampled, so totals are a lower bound. Volume is the quote volume of this site's recorded 1-minute bars.
- No third-party aggregator data is used. See coverage for every exchange and data type.
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Derivatives report FAQ
What does the derivatives report cover?
Perpetual futures open interest, funding, liquidations and trading volume over one half-year or year, by coin and by exchange, with a section on Hyperliquid. Every number comes from the exchanges' public market-data APIs, recorded by this site or backfilled from the exchanges' own history.
When is a report published?
At 00:00 UTC on the day after the period ends: 1 July for the first half, 1 January for the second half and the full year. Late data can still arrive during the first day, after which the report does not change.
Why do some sections cover fewer exchanges?
Coverage grows over time. Older periods rely on the hourly history Binance and Bybit publish (open interest) and on settled funding from Binance and Hyperliquid; every exchange on the coverage page is included from the day this site started recording it. Each section lists the exchanges it covers, and the open-interest change compares only exchanges recorded at both ends of the period.
Can I cite or share the report?
Yes. Each report has a permanent page, a 1200×630 image at the same address plus .png and a CSV of every table. Please link back to the page when you use the numbers or the image.