Decoding Quant’s 6% decline as QNT’s Open Interest retreats toward $120M

The late September surge for Quant [QNT] has been followed by an ongoing battle between decreasing purchasing power and aggressive seller activity.

The price rose from under $100, reaching a high of $373.66 before it was sharply rejected due to traders locking in profits.

After reaching $325, buyers were unable to recover their peak high, creating a new low high. This simply indicated diminishing demand. Since the 2nd of October, selling activity has slowly forced the price down into the $215-$220 area of support.

As of writing, the token had declined by 6% in the last 24 hours, trading at $219.34. This was an over 72% decline from the September high.

QNT’s current downward trend is becoming increasingly concerning. Each time the market rebounds, volume appears to decrease. Hence, if the price repeatedly touches its support areas, it will exhaust all potential buy order levels.

A four-hour close below $215 could trigger stop-loss selling toward $160–$180, threatening to erase much of the breakout’s remaining gains. However, a strong recovery above $225 after briefly dipping below support would suggest buyers are absorbing supply.

That could open a relief rally toward $250–$255. Until then, QNT remains vulnerable to a deeper correction.

QNT Open Interest falls as leverage unwinds

QNT’s rally was fueled by a surge in derivatives exposure. However, falling Open Interest (OI) now signals an ongoing market reset. From July through September 23, open interest remained near $11–$15 million as the price traded around the $60–$70 zone.

However, after the price broke out of this range and rose towards $373.66, the OI also moved up to $190 million.

Despite the downward trend, price and derivatives exposure remained high near $180-$190 million through mid-October, causing liquidation risk due to the trader’s position size.

Since the 2nd of October, OI has declined toward $120 million as QNT fell toward $225.81. This indicates that there are no massive additions to OI but rather liquidation of existing long positions.

Furthermore, the Funding Rates have shown a trend of repeated dips below zero and even reached a record low of -0.27% on the 4th of October prior to returning to neutral.

This combination suggests traders are closing positions rather than adding fresh exposure, weakening the case for an immediate recovery.

These movements indicate increased aggressive short selling activity within the futures contracts. However, funding  rates cannot be used independently to determine market direction.

Looking forward, should QNT fail to hold above $215, additional closes may drive prices down to $196 or lower.

Conversely, rising prices alongside expanding open interest would provide stronger evidence of renewed conviction and a potential recovery.

Final Summary

• Quant [QNT] faces further downside if selling pressure breaks $215 support.

• QNT open interest drops from $190 million to $120 million as leverage unwinds.