The price of Bitcoin has had quite the rollercoaster ride over the last seven days, rising from its early-week blues marked by a crash to below the $100,000 mark. The flagship cryptocurrency has roared back to life, running to as high as $108,000 in the past few days.
The Annualized Perp Funding Rates is a key metric that tracks the periodic payments between long and short traders in the derivatives (perpetual futures) market. This indicator offers timely insights into the sentiment and leverage in the cryptocurrency derivatives market.
On the other hand, the 3-Month (3M) Futures Annualized Rolling Basis estimates the annualized yield from buying a cryptocurrency on the spot market and concurrently selling the crypto’s futures contract expiring in 3 months. Typically, futures contracts trade at a higher price than the spot asset — a difference that traders can exploit for profit.
As shown in the chart above, the Annualized Perp Funding Rates and 3-Month (3M) Futures Annualized Rolling Basis have been falling since last November. “Despite high futures activity, appetite for long exposure is fading, reflecting increased caution and possibly more neutral or short-side positioning,” Glassnode noted.
Hence, even if the funding rates keep falling, but the macroeconomic environment and institutional capital inflow remain steady, the market could witness a short squeeze — where short traders are forced to close their positions. This potential scenario is even supported by the fact that the market tends to move in the crowd’s opposite direction.
As of this writing, the price of BTC stands at around $107,180, showing no significant movement in the past 24 hours.