OI Surge — Signal Playbook

What it detects

Open interest jumps sharply alongside a one-sided book — fresh leveraged positions are piling into a move. New money is committing in the book’s direction.

How OI Surge paints across a heatmap row — the colour language it speaks on the live map.

How to play it

Use it as scanner context, not an automatic entry:

• Rising OI + rising price = new longs (conviction); rising OI + falling price = new shorts.
• A surge confirms a move has fuel behind it — but that same fuel becomes squeeze risk.
• Use with funding: surging OI into already-stretched funding is a late, fragile move.
• Falling OI on a move (not this signal) means an unwind, not new conviction.

Confirmation

What strengthens the read:

• Price trends in the book’s direction as OI builds.
• Funding moves toward the crowded side.
• Aggressive flow agrees.

Invalidation

What kills it:

• OI rolls over (positions unwinding) — the fuel is leaving.
• Price reverses while OI keeps rising (trapped positions → squeeze).

Risk & honest evidence

Respect the limits:

• New leverage cuts both ways — it powers trends and fuels violent squeezes.
• Late-stage OI surges into stretched funding are the riskiest.
• Evidence: grounded in market-microstructure research; on open-interest dynamics; needs multi-day data to validate. vyx's own live backtest is still accruing — treat this as scanner context, not a proven edge.