Updated 2026-07-25
A metric described as OI-weighted is averaged in proportion to each contract's or venue's open interest rather than treating every source equally. An OI-weighted funding rate across exchanges, for example, gives the venue holding most of the positions most of the influence on the number.
The reason is simple. A tiny venue can print an extreme funding rate or a lopsided long/short ratio on almost no positions, and a plain average would let that noise dominate a market-wide read. Weighting by open interest keeps the aggregate anchored to where the actual risk sits. The trade-off worth knowing is that OI weighting deliberately mutes small venues, so it is the right tool for a market-wide view and the wrong tool if you specifically care about what is happening on one smaller book.