Svmuu News The Bitcoin futures market at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) continues to weaken. Data shows that the average daily open interest (OI) for March 2026 contracts has fallen below $80 billion, dropping further to around $72 billion in early April, marking the lowest level since February 2024. This represents the fifth consecutive month of decline. Meanwhile, the monthly trading volume for March fell to $163 billion, nearly halving from its peak in January 2025.
Market analysis indicates that this round of decline is primarily attributed to the large-scale unwinding of "basis trades." Previously, institutions drove the growth of CME positions by buying spot ETFs and shorting CME futures to capture the price spread. However, as Bitcoin's price retreated from its high of $120,000 to below $70,000, the annualized basis spread has significantly compressed. The current spread of about 5% is approaching the risk-free rate level of approximately 4.5%. After accounting for funding costs and counterparty risk, the arbitrage opportunity has essentially disappeared, prompting leveraged capital to withdraw. (The Block)