Traders holding $39.5 million in BitMEX Bitcoin perps have 16 days to exit before forced closures begin

BitMEX recorded 39,449,400 XBTUSD contracts of open interest at 01:55 UTC on Aug. 10 as the exchange approached a two-stage shutdown. BitMEX will block new positions on Aug. 26 and force-close anything still open when exchange services end on Sept. 23.XBTUSD is an inverse Bitcoin perpetual whose contracts do not expire during normal trading. BitMEX’s contract specification sets each contract at $1 of Bitcoin, so the Aug. 10 count represented $39.45 million of face value, or about 605.45 BTC at the reported mark price of $65,156.99.The instrument data is a timestamped snapshot of one market. The $39.45 million figure measures XBTUSD open interest; BitMEX-wide open interest, traders’ net directional exposure and collateral are separate measures.BitMEX XBTUSD market becomes exit-only on Aug. 26At 04:00 UTC on Aug. 26, BitMEX plans to apply risk limits that stop users from opening new positions, according to its closure notice. Holders can still reduce existing positions, giving them just over 16 days from the snapshot to decide how much exposure to exit before the restriction begins. The restriction makes XBTUSD an exit-only market: holders can cut their contract count, while BitMEX w...