◇ REPLAY · May 10–20, 2021
The May 2021 Cascade
Open interest climbed into record highs while funding stayed persistently positive — longs were crowded and paying carry. A single intraday wick through ~$30k triggered cascading liquidations that wiped billions in OI before price recovered above $40k.
◆ ◇ THE MAY 2021 CASCADE · REPLAYBinance BTCUSDT archived daily OHLC + USDT-M funding
◇ accent dots mark daily wick lows (e.g. May 19 ~$30k)
STEP 1/7
Leverage piles in near the highs
Open interest is the gross notional of outstanding contracts — like total derivatives open on a single-name equity before an earnings gap. Here it climbs steadily while spot grinds toward $58k. More people are opening perp positions with leverage; a shakeout would hurt more people.