How to Read Long/Short Ratio & Open Interest

This page tracks two separate things: how aggressively traders are buying versus selling right now (Long/Short Ratio), and how much leveraged exposure is currently open in the market (Open Interest). Read them together - neither tells the full story alone.

What the ratio actually measures

Longs % and Shorts % are the share of aggressive buy volume versus aggressive sell volume in each candle, not a count of open long or short positions or accounts. A Ratio above 1 means buyers were more aggressive than sellers over that period - it isn't the same metric as an exchange's account-based long/short ratio, and a high ratio on its own doesn't mean the price will keep rising.

Reading it alongside Open Interest

Open Interest is the total value of contracts still open. Rising OI with a rising price usually means new money is opening long positions; rising OI with a falling price usually means new short positions are opening. Falling OI generally means existing positions are closing, not fresh conviction forming.