Morpho positioning split: $49.8M OI meets a 10.2% Bybit unwind
Morpho is showing a clear positioning split: aggregate open interest stands at $49.8M after rising 3.95% in 24 hours, while active takers are only 34.9% long against 50.3% long accounts. Price is $2.6168 and down 1.5%, so the derivatives picture is not a clean bullish expansion; it is a market where exposure is increasing while the traders most directly hitting the book remain defensive.
News context: recent reports describe new fixed-rate and Bitcoin-backed borrowing products connected with Morpho, adding a fundamental backdrop to the token’s derivatives positioning.
Open interest is rising unevenly
The exchange distribution explains why the headline OI increase needs qualification. Binance holds $15.9M, or 32.0% of tracked open interest, yet its 24-hour OI change is -0.9%. Bybit carries $7.6M, equal to 15.3%, and has contracted 10.2% over the same period. Those two venues account for the largest visible pools, and both are reducing exposure on a daily view even as the broader total expands.
OKX is smaller at $3.2M and 6.4% share, but its OI is up 0.1%. Bitget holds $2.9M, or 5.8%, with a 1.7% decline. The contrast is therefore not simply between rising and falling leverage: the largest venue is modestly softer, the second-largest is sharply lighter, while smaller venues are absorbing some of the difference. On the shorter four-hour view, Binance OI is up 1.3% and OKX is up 1.1%, suggesting fresh positioning is appearing even as the daily structure remains fragmented.
Funding confirms a split market
The funding rate map is mostly positive but far from uniform. Binance, Bybit and Bitget each show 0.005%, while Gate is at 0.0049%. That is a mild cost for longs and points to some long-side demand, but it is not broad enough to prove crowded bullish leverage.
More aggressive readings appear on Hyperliquid at 0.012965%, Lighter at 0.0096% and Paradex at 0.009973%. In contrast, Coinbase is negative at -0.0127% and Crypto.com is negative at -0.001621%. The cross-venue gap matters: some markets are paying longs to hold exposure, while Coinbase is pricing a meaningful short-side imbalance. Morpho’s average funding is 0.003578%, positive but still much closer to a mildly long-biased market than to a fully crowded trade.
Accounts are balanced, takers are not
The positioning divergence is clearest in the long/short comparison. Overall accounts are 50.3% long, effectively balanced, while the active-taker reading is 34.9% long. On Binance, the account split is 51.9% long versus 48.1% short, with a 1.0799 ratio. This says passive or existing account positioning is slightly long, but traders initiating or closing aggressively are leaning short.
That gap can support a rebound if short takers are forced to cover, particularly because total OI is still expanding. However, it also warns that a price bounce may meet supply from existing longs if the broader market fails to follow. Liquidation data is not yet showing a forced cascade: the 1-hour, 4-hour and 12-hour windows recorded no liquidations. Across 24 hours, total liquidations reached $32.8K from 27 events, with $25.9K in longs versus $6.9K in shorts. Longs have taken most of the realized damage, despite the account balance remaining near even.
Verdict: The key reference is $2.6168 against approximately $49.8M in open interest. The setup favors a positioning-driven rebound only if price holds $2.6168 while OI remains elevated and taker shorts begin to cover; the view is invalidated if price breaks below $2.6168 while OI continues expanding, confirming that fresh leverage is pressing the market lower rather than funding a squeeze. Data as of 07:12 Beijing time on Sep 23, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.