Open interest

Open interest is the count of outstanding derivative contracts that remain open in a market. Unlike volume, which counts trades in a session, open interest tracks how many positions are still live, so it rises when new positions are created and falls when they are closed.

For a trader, open interest helps interpret what is driving a move. Rising price with rising open interest suggests fresh participation, while rising price with falling open interest can point to short covering. On COMEX gold or MCX contracts, this distinction adds nuance to a positioning read.

Open interest is read together with net position and price rather than alone. The same change in net position can mean very different things depending on whether open interest is expanding or contracting underneath it.