Futures open interest
Definition · Level 7 · Futures & commodities
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The number of futures contracts still open (not closed or delivered), each with one long and one short. It rises when a new buyer meets a new seller, falls when both close, and is unchanged when a position changes hands.
Example
Open interest 500,000: that many longs, and as many shorts, still hold positions.
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 7 · Futures & commodities, in the lesson “How a contract ends: settlement & open interest”: Cash against physical delivery, the delivery dates, why oil once went below zero, and what open interest counts.
Related terms
- Cash-settled futureA futures contract that ends with one cash payment of the gap between your price and a final reference price, with no delivery of the underlying.
- First notice dayThe first day a short may tell the exchange it will deliver the real goods.
- Physical deliverySettlement by handing over the actual underlying (barrels of oil at Cushing for CL, gold bars for GC, Treasury notes for ZN) to longs still holding…
- BackwardationCurve shape where later-dated futures trade below nearer ones.
- BasisThe gap between the spot (cash) price and a futures price, usually spot − futures.
- Cash-and-carryA near risk-free trade (arbitrage) when a future trades above fair value: buy the asset, finance (and store) it, sell the future, and hold both to…