Sui Open Interest at $779.2M: Why the Surge Is Not Broad-Based

Sui is trading at $1.0136 after a 2.3% rise, but its derivatives market is not confirming a clean open-interest expansion. Aggregate open interest stands at $779.2M, down 5.1% over 24 hours, while turnover reached $2.5B and rose 25.5%. The result is a high-volume rally with positions being rotated rather than broadly added.

Recent market commentary has highlighted SUI’s advance alongside a wider altcoin rebound and renewed attention around potential breakout levels. The derivatives data, however, points to a more selective and uneven move.

Gate is adding risk while Binance sheds it

The clearest concentration sits at Gate, which holds $168.3M of SUI open interest, or 21.6% of the tracked total. Its position base expanded 11.5% over 24 hours and 1.3% over the latest four-hour window. That makes Gate the main venue supporting the apparent OI surge.

Binance is the second-largest venue by share, with $144.2M and 18.5% of total open interest, but its positioning fell 5.4% over 24 hours. Bybit accounts for $97.4M, or 12.5%, and is nearly flat on the day with a 0.3% increase, while Bitget holds $66.8M, or 8.6%, after a 0.1% rise. OKX is smaller at $41.0M and 5.3%, though its four-hour OI increased 2.3% even as its daily measure declined 1.8%.

This split matters: Gate’s expansion is large enough to attract attention, but Binance’s contraction offsets much of it. The market is therefore showing venue-specific conviction rather than a synchronized leverage build.

Funding is positive, but leverage is not uniformly crowded

The current funding rate is positive across most major venues. Binance, Bybit, Bitget, Gate, OKX and several other exchanges show 0.01%, while Bitfinex is higher at 0.0124%. Coinbase is lower at 0.0039%, Hyperliquid is 0.0025%, and Kraken is 0.0007%. CoinEx is the outlier at 0.1947%, whereas EdgeX is negative at -0.005% and dYdX is 0%.

The cross-venue dispersion argues against treating the positive average funding signal as a universal crowded-long condition. The elevated CoinEx reading suggests localized demand for long exposure, while the negative EdgeX rate shows that positioning pressure differs sharply by venue. SUI’s basis is also negative at -0.0393%, with an annualized basis of -14.4%, reinforcing the view that the broader futures curve is not pricing an aggressive, uniform premium.

Account longs dominate, but active flow is almost balanced

Account positioning looks strongly bullish. Binance accounts are 69.4% long, Bybit accounts are 75.3% long, Bitget accounts are 77.2% long, and Gate accounts are 65.5% long. Yet the long/short split among active takers is far less one-sided: Binance takers are 52.5% long, OKX takers are 51.6% long, and Gate takers are 51.6% long.

This account-versus-taker divergence is central to the OI reading. Many traders retain long exposure, but the latest aggressive orders are close to balanced. That can support price while limiting the probability of a straight-line squeeze, especially after the four-hour RSI reached 74.6 and the daily RSI reached 74.0.

Liquidation data adds a two-sided warning. Over 24 hours, short liquidations reached $5.3M versus $3.6M for longs, from total liquidations of $8.8M. In the latest four hours, however, long liquidations were $511.4K against $166.9K for shorts. The largest recorded events included short liquidations near $1.0178 and $1.0283, while a notable Binance long liquidation occurred at $1.0059.

Verdict: The bullish case remains valid above $1.0059, with $1.0178 and $1.0283 as immediate OI-sensitive levels and $1.0678 as the next major liquidation reference. A sustained move above $1.0283 accompanied by renewed total OI growth would validate a genuine expansion; a break below $1.0059 together with another decline in aggregate OI would invalidate the bullish continuation view. Data as of 17:05 Beijing time on Sep 22, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.