open interest

Open Interest

1. The total number of options and/or futures contracts that are not closed or delivered on a particular day.

2. The number of buy market orders before the stock market opens.

Notes:

1. A common misconception is that open interest is the same thing as volume of options and futures trades. This is not correct as demonstrated in the following example:





On Jan 1, A buys an option, which leaves an open interest and also creates trading volume of 1.
On Jan 2, C and D create trading volume of 5 and there are also 5 more options left open.
On Jan 3, A takes an offsetting position and therefore open interest is reduced by 1, and trading volume is 1.
On Jan 4, E simply replaces C and therefore open interest does not change, trading volume increases by 5.

See also: CME, Commitments of Traders Report - COT, Futures, Market Order, NYMEX, Options, Volume

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Open interest

The total number of derivatives contracts traded that have not yet been liquidated either by an offsetting derivative transaction or by delivery. Related: Liquidation.

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open interest

The number of contracts for particular futures or an option which, at a given time, are outstanding. A large open interest indicates more activity and liquidity for the contract.