Description
Definition. This chart shows futures open interest normalized by market capitalization, for all futures contracts as well as for perpetuals only. It measures the footprint of the futures market relative to the size of the underlying asset.
Technical. The ratios are calculated as follows:
Futures OI Leverage Ratio = Total Futures Open Interest / Market CapPerpetual OI Leverage Ratio = Perpetual Futures Open Interest / Market Cap
Interpretation. Rising values indicate leveraged exposure growing faster than the underlying market itself.
Notes. Not to be confused with the related Futures Estimated Leverage Ratio metric, which divides open interest by the balance on the corresponding exchange rather than by market capitalization: that metric tracks trader leverage relative to exchange collateral, while this chart tracks total futures exposure relative to the whole market.