Traders betting on ACE price drops are paying an escalating fee to keep positions open, showing heavy short crowding while the price holds near $0.17.
Imagine ACE is trading calmly at around seventeen cents. Even though the price is barely moving, a lopsided crowd of traders is aggressively rushing to bet that the token will drop.
Across ten continuous minutes, the cost for sellers to hold their trades steadily grew. The hourly penalty rate deepened from negative 0.0724 percent down to negative 0.0733 percent across ten consecutive alerts.
When too many traders bet the same way, the exchange charges that side a regular fee paid directly to the opposing side. Negative funding means sellers must pay buyers just to keep their positions open.
A single alert could be a brief blip, but ten alerts in ten minutes show stubborn, intense crowding. Bearish traders are so determined that they are willing to absorb heavy, continuous cash drain.
Heavy shorting does not guarantee the price will fall. If the price nudges upward, those crowded sellers might rush to exit and buy back at the same time, triggering a fast spike known as a short squeeze.
Do not think negative funding guarantees a price crash. Think of an overcrowded room leaning heavily in one direction, where high holding costs make everyone nervous and prone to sudden exits.