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 Cap
• Perpetual OI Leverage Ratio = Perpetual Futures Open Interest / Market Cap

Interpretation. Rising values indicate leveraged exposure growing faster than the underlying market itself — a build-up of open positions that must eventually be closed, settled, or liquidated. Elevated leverage ratios describe a derivative-heavy market that is more sensitive to forced deleveraging: comparatively small price moves can trigger cascading long or short liquidations. Sharp declines in the ratio typically coincide with exactly such flush events, where open interest is cleared faster than price falls. Comparing the two traces shows how much of the leverage resides in perpetual swaps versus calendar futures; perpetuals dominating the total is characteristic of speculative retail-driven regimes, while a wider gap to total open interest reflects a larger share of dated contracts.

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. Built from Futures Open Interest, Perpetual Futures Open Interest and Market Cap.