Long/short ratios and open interest

The long/short ratio counts how many accounts sit net long versus net short on a perpetual contract. A ratio of 1.5 means 60% of accounts are long. The global figure covers every account on the venue, which skews toward retail positioning; the top-trader position variant measures long and short position shares among the top 20% of users ranked by margin balance. It describes that cohort's position size, not a count of bullish and bearish top-trader accounts.

Extreme readings are often used as contrarian context, but the ratio is not a trading signal on its own. When the two series diverge, the disagreement between the broad account base and position-weighted top traders is the information worth monitoring alongside price, funding, and liquidations.

Open interest is the total notional of outstanding perpetual positions. Rising price with rising open interest means new money is backing the move; rising price with falling open interest means shorts are closing, a weaker and more fragile rally. Sharp open-interest flushes mark liquidation cascades and often coincide with local tops or bottoms once the leverage is cleared.

Source: Binance USD-M Futures market statistics. Binance makes only the latest 30 days available for these endpoints; daily buckets therefore naturally contain about 30 observations. Ratios above 1 indicate more long than short exposure under the selected measure, and open interest is shown in notional value.