Monero (XMR) futures open interest has climbed past $300 million, approaching January's peak of about $320 million, according to data source SoSoValue. The buildup in leveraged positions comes as the privacy coin's spot price recently topped $600, its highest level since January.
Open interest nears record
Notional open interest, the dollar value of active monero futures bets, has exceeded $300 million only a few times, all this year. The current level is close to the January record of roughly $320 million. Open interest is also rising in coin terms: at 515,730 XMR, it sits at a five-week high, up sharply from 400,000 XMR a week earlier.
Futures contracts allow traders to bet on a coin's price without owning it. Because futures involve leverage, traders post a small margin to control a much larger position. When prices move against them, exchanges can forcibly close positions to prevent losses from exceeding posted collateral, a process known as liquidation.
January precedent
A similar buildup in January preceded a sharp decline. Open interest hit a record high alongside a price rally, reflecting an overcrowding of long positions. Monero's spot price reached about $790 on Jan. 14, then crashed to below $300 by the first week of February, a 66% drop. The move was characterized by liquidation of longs worth several million dollars, according to Coinglass.
Liquidations add to selling pressure, especially when most traders are positioned long. In such cases, a slight price decline can trigger mass liquidation of longs and accelerate a price crash.
Pseudonymous crypto analyst Doctor Profit, who previously called bitcoin's 2025 top and pivoted to accumulation in July, noted the parallel: "The last Time we reached that amount of Open Interest was in Jan 2026. Monero Crashed 66% in the next 20 days. I Smell a very big Liquidation Event on XMR."
Whether history repeats remains to be seen.
