Bitcoin Cash Hits $346.29 as Open Interest Surges 48.4%
Bitcoin Cash is trading at $346.29 after a 28.7% advance, while aggregate open interest has expanded to $402.6M, up 48.4% in 24 hours. That combination points to a breakout with substantial new leverage behind it, rather than a move driven only by spot demand. The immediate question is whether rising positioning can keep supporting price after the first wave of short covering fades.
Binance leads the leverage build
Binance holds $172.5M of BCH open interest, or 42.9% of the tracked total, and its positioning has grown 136.0% over 24 hours. Bybit is the second-largest visible venue at $63.9M and 15.9% share, with open interest up 62.5%. OKX contributes $35.9M, or 8.9%, after a 38.0% increase, while Bitget holds $24.8M, or 6.2%, following a 29.4% rise.
The concentration matters because Binance alone represents the largest source of incremental leverage, while the next three venues are also expanding. Four-hour changes are more measured on Binance, OKX and Bitget at 1.8%, 1.0% and 1.8%, respectively, but Bybit has added 7.2% in the same window. That suggests the latest impulse is not uniform: Bybit is still adding exposure more aggressively, while the largest venue is consolidating a much larger base.
Funding is positive, but positioning is split
Current funding rates are broadly positive at major venues, with 0.01% on Binance, Bybit, OKX, Bitget and several other exchanges. The exception is CoinEx at -0.75%, while Coinbase is at 0.003% and Hyperliquid at 0.003989%. This is a bullish carry backdrop across the principal venues, but the negative outlier shows that positioning is not perfectly synchronized.
The account data leans long: Bybit has 63.1% long accounts, Bitget 60.2%, Binance 59.6% and Gate 55.2%. Yet active taker flow is less one-sided. Binance takers are 62.5% long, OKX is 55.8% long, but Gate takers are only 22.3% long against 77.7% short. The split implies that many accounts remain structurally bullish while aggressive traders are willing to sell into the rally. A breakout can continue under those conditions, but each additional leg higher needs fresh demand rather than simply a crowded long-account ratio.
Short liquidations confirm the squeeze
Liquidation data gives the clearest evidence of breakout mechanics. Over 24 hours, BCH recorded $5.3M in liquidations: $4.0M from shorts versus $1.3M from longs. The imbalance persists across shorter windows. In 12 hours, short liquidations reached $3.9M compared with $1.2M for longs; in 4 hours, the split was $331.0K versus $95.8K; and in 1 hour, shorts accounted for $151.8K against $37.5K for longs.
The largest recorded short liquidation was $120.6K at $282.25 on Binance, followed by $97.4K at $305.04 on the same venue and $96.5K at $272.70 on OKX. These levels show how quickly the advance has been forcing bearish positions out of the market, while the current price remains materially above the most prominent liquidation prints.
Verdict: The breakout remains constructive while BCH holds $346.29 and open interest stays near or above $402.6M without a sharp reversal in the 48.4% daily expansion. The view is invalidated if price falls back through $305.04 while open interest contracts materially, because that would signal that short-covering demand has turned into leverage unwinding rather than sustainable continuation. Data as of 08:25 Beijing time on Sep 23, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.