There are now two substantial options markets referencing the same underlying asset. The long-standing offshore complex, quoted in crypto and traded largely by crypto-native participants. And listed options on the spot vehicles, traded on regulated venues by participants who mostly do not touch the first market at all.
They are positioning in the same price. They are not the same book.
Why they behave differently
The participants differ, which means the flow differs. The listed book carries a lot of covered and overwriting activity from holders who own the vehicle, which pushes positioning in a characteristic direction. The offshore book carries more speculative and hedging flow from leveraged participants.
The expiry calendars differ too, and the settlement conventions differ, so the two books do not decay in step. A large expiry on one is not an event on the other.
Why you need both
Dealer hedging happens against whichever book the dealer is positioned in, and both sets of dealers hedge in markets that ultimately touch the same price. A wall visible in one book and absent from the other is still a real wall.
Aggregating them into one number is the wrong answer — the units, the hours and the participants differ enough that a sum is not meaningful. Showing them side by side is the right one.
What to look for
Agreement is the strongest read. When both books show heavy positioning around the same price, that level has two independent sets of hedgers with a reason to defend it.
Disagreement is informative too, and usually means one participant group is hedging something the other is not. That is worth understanding before assuming the level will hold.