I've been watching futures for several hours and see an interesting picture. There's a literally red zone in funding rates — shorts are clearly dominating. This means that negative funding is currently working at full capacity: those who are shorting are paying those who are long. Simple mechanics: the futures price can't deviate too much from the spot price, so the exchange forces shorts to compensate the difference. It's fascinating to observe how this unfolds.

I looked at specific coins — it's just hell for shorts. ICNT shows extreme rates, minus 0.57% over a few hours. ZKP, DASH, AXS are also under heavy pressure. Negative funding on these assets means that long position holders are receiving a decent compensation just for holding on. Every hour, shorts lose chunks of their profits through payments.

And here’s where it gets interesting. When negative funding becomes too aggressive, many shorts start to get nervous. Any price increase can trigger a mass closing of positions — a short squeeze. Shorts begin buying back the asset, the price soars, stop-losses get hit, domino effect. Those who see this in advance can make good money on this movement.

The simple conclusion: if you're already long on these coins, the exchange is helping you. If you're thinking of shorting — remember that negative funding will quickly eat into your profits. You need to factor this variable into your calculations.