Perpetual Futures Open Interest Hits Record on Offshore Venues

Aggregate open interest in perpetual futures across the six largest offshore venues reached a record this week, according to exchange-reported data compiled by D2CA, surpassing the previous high set in the first quarter.

The concentration matters for price discovery. Perpetual contracts settle continuously through a funding mechanism rather than at expiry, so persistent imbalances between long and short demand show up as a running cost rather than a dislocated forward price.

Basis desks say the spread between offshore funding and regulated futures carry has been wide enough to support a straightforward cash-and-carry trade for most of the past month, though capital cannot always move between the two venues efficiently.

Two market makers said position limits imposed by their own risk committees, rather than available margin, currently cap how much of the spread they can harvest.

Open interest is reported by the venues themselves and is not independently audited. Analysts generally treat directional changes as more reliable than absolute levels.