Stock Perpetual Contract Volume Plunges 87.5% Over Weekend Despite Stable Open Interest

Weekend trading volume for stock perpetuals fell 87.5% to $4.9B, while open interest rose slightly, suggesting traders held positions rather than exited, with activity rebounding Monday.

Woofun AI data shows that stock perpetual contract trading volume declined by approximately 87.5% over the weekend, dropping from $39.078 billion to $4.896 billion, while open interest increased marginally from $10.139 billion to $10.262 billion. This divergence indicates that market participants maintained their positions despite a sharp reduction in active turnover. By Monday morning, July 27, volume recovered to $10.617 billion, marking a 116.8% increase from Sunday levels.

Liquidity metrics reflected similar patterns, with weighted market depth decreasing by 18.8% to $47.83 million before rebounding to $55.68 million on Monday. Major platforms including Binance, OKX, and Bitget preserved strong depth and narrow spreads, whereas Hyperliquid saw robust ranking performance but lower absolute volume compared to trading days. RootData Research notes that these exchanges facilitate risk hedging and expected pricing during traditional market closures, acting as a pre-opening price discovery layer rather than replacing traditional market pricing power.