ARB +27%: OI Doubles to $144.6M, Shorts Paid $3.24M
ARB broke out with open interest doubling
ARB traded at $0.1097 at the snapshot, up 27% on the day. Binance prints $0.10974 with a 24h high of $0.1201, and OKX agrees at $0.10975 with a high of $0.12087. This was not a thin order book affair: spot and derivative volume reached $1.07B in 24 hours, while total open interest across major venues climbed to $144.6M from roughly $70M a day earlier. A rally of this size with volume behind it usually means real buying, and the derivatives tape backs that up.
Where the new leverage went
Binance added 104.8% to its book in 24 hours to $37.1M, Hyperliquid grew 98% to $13.5M, and Bybit expanded 65.2% to $28.2M. OKX also built positions, up 175.5%, though it still holds a smaller $10.3M slice. Funding rates tell the interesting part of the story: they sit near zero at 0.0001% on Binance and 0.0001% on Bybit, with OKX slightly negative at -0.0085%. Leverage is flowing in, but longs are not paying a premium to hold it yet. That combination is unusual for a move this sharp and is worth watching.
Shorts absorbed the damage
Liquidation data over 24 hours shows $5.69M wiped out, with $3.24M of it on the short side. That is a 57/43 split favoring shorts, which matches the squeeze narrative: the price jumped faster than most short entries could survive. None of the individual liquidations cracked the top-20 list, meaning the damage was spread across many smaller accounts rather than concentrated in one whale position. When a squeeze distributes losses this evenly, the short base tends to rebuild quickly, which can set up a second wave.
What to watch next
The doubling of open interest alongside a 27% rally is the classic setup where the next leg depends on funding. If rates turn strongly positive, late longs are paying to stay and the squeeze loses fuel. If they stay flat while OI keeps climbing, new money is still coming in on conviction rather than momentum chasing. The 24h high of $0.1201 is the level to watch; a close above it with funding still near zero would be a stronger signal than the first breakout was. For traders, the asymmetry between a flat funding rate and a doubling book is the main thing to monitor over the next session.
Data as of 17:50 Beijing time on September 1, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit, Hyperliquid, Gate, Bitget and other major exchanges.