iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) Open Interest History

Open interest tracks the total number of outstanding options contracts. Rising OI alongside price moves can indicate growing commitment to the trend; declining OI suggests positions are being closed.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Asset Management - Global industry, with a market capitalization near $76.87B, listed on AMEX, carrying a beta of 1.29 to the broader market. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF endeavors to replicate the investment returns of a particular market benchmark that consists solely of smaller-capitalization U. public since 2000-05-26.

Snapshot as of Jun 12, 2026.

Spot Price

$293.13

Call OI

3.1M

Put OI

8.6M

Total OI

11.7M

Put/Call Ratio

0.76

As of Jun 12, 2026, iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has 11.7M total contracts outstanding across all expirations. Put/call OI ratio is 2.81 (put-heavy positioning, often indicating hedging or bearish bias). Open interest reflects accumulated positions from prior sessions; persistent growth indicates sustained directional or hedging interest, while sharp drops typically mean post-expiration clean-up.

How IWM open interest history Data Feeds Strategy Selection

Strategy selection on iShares Russell 2000 ETF options does not derive from any single metric in isolation. The open interest history view above sits inside a broader read: ATM IV currently sits at 23.0% and dealer gamma exposure is negative, so dealer hedging amplifies directional moves. Combine the open interest history data here with the volatility-skew surface, dealer-gamma exposure, max-pain level, and upcoming-events calendar to build a positioning thesis. Risk-defined structures (credit spreads, debit spreads, iron condors) are usually safer than naked positions while the regime is uncertain; the data on this page anchors the inputs but does not by itself constitute a trade thesis.

How to read the IWM open-interest data

The open-interest time-series above tracks the total iShares Russell 2000 ETF options inventory outstanding day by day. OI is a stock measure - the cumulative position count - so trends flag accumulating or distributing positioning. Current put/call ratio is 0.76, roughly balanced. Total call OI of 3.1M versus put OI of 8.6M gives a put/call OI ratio of 2.81 - structurally a slower-moving signal than the volume-based ratio.

IWM flow vs positioning

Volume tells you what flows happened today; OI tells you what positions accumulated. Both can move in opposite directions: rising volume with falling OI means contracts are being closed (covering); rising volume with rising OI means new positions are being opened. The combination matters more than either alone for reading sentiment. Combined with the current negative dealer-gamma regime, large OI clusters tend to act as price repellents that accelerate moves through key strikes.

Using IWM OI/volume data alongside other surfaces

Per-strike OI is the input to dealer-gamma calculations: strikes with elevated call OI generate gamma walls that dealers must hedge into as spot approaches them. The gamma-exposure page combines this distribution with the dealers' assumed-long-gamma assumption to project hedge flow. Volume cross-checks recent positioning shifts in the chain that haven't yet shown up in cumulative OI. Pair both with the term-structure view on the volatility page to determine whether the activity is concentrated in near-dated event hedging or longer-dated structural positioning. Front-month expiration for IWM sits at 28 days, so near-dated volume currently dominates the flow reading.

Learn how open interest is reported and how to read the data →

Daily open-interest history for IWM options over the last ~28 trading days. Each row reflects the end-of-day total OI summed across all listed strikes and expirations.

Most recent 15 trading days (descending). Older history appears in the chart above.

IWM highest open-interest contracts

Top 4 contracts from the institutional-grade nightly options scan; ranked by oi within the broader S&P 500/400/600 + ETF universe.

Frequently asked IWM open interest history questions

What is the current IWM options open interest?

As of Jun 12, 2026, iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) has 11.7M total contracts outstanding across all listed expirations, split as 3.1M calls and 8.6M puts. Open interest reflects accumulated positions from prior trading sessions; it does not include today's volume until end-of-day reconciliation.

What is the IWM put/call open interest ratio?

Put/call OI ratio of 2.81 is put-heavy, often indicating hedging demand or bearish positioning.

What does IWM open interest tell traders?

Persistent OI growth indicates sustained directional or hedging interest; sharp drops typically mean post-expiration position cleanup. Heavy OI concentrations at specific strikes act as support and resistance levels because dealer hedging amplifies near those strikes - the gamma profile of the dealer book is concentrated there. Comparing today's volume to standing OI separates opening flow from closing flow.