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Trading volume
Trading volume is the amount of an asset traded during a set period, such as 24 hours, counted in units or in their money value. It shows how much buying and selling took place, and is often read as a sign of interest and liquidity.
What it means for you. Reported volume can be inflated by wash trading, so a large 24-hour figure does not prove you could sell a large amount near the quoted price. Like any chart data, volume describes the past and does not tell you what happens next. Volume on one platform or one trading pair can be much smaller than the headline total.
Sources: CFTC Glossary, Cong, Li, Tang and Yang: Crypto Wash Trading (arXiv) · checked 4 October 2026
Open interest
Open interest is the total number of futures or options contracts that are still open: entered into and not yet closed by an offsetting trade, delivery or exercise. It measures how many positions exist, not how much trading happened.
What it means for you. Open interest shows how much is committed to a derivatives market, not which way it leans: every open long has an open short on the other side. High open interest built with heavy leverage can mean many positions exposed to forced liquidation in a sharp move. It is reported per contract or market, so compare like with like.
Sources: CFTC: Commitments of Traders explanatory notes, CFTC Glossary · checked 4 October 2026