Over a ten-minute span, traders betting against ANIME crowded the market so heavily that they paid an unusually steep fee to keep their positions open.
Imagine ANIME is trading around $0.0030. Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of traders arrives, all wanting to place bets that the token will drop in value.
Across ten straight minutes, the market was so lopsided with downward bets that a regular rebalancing fee hit roughly -0.18% per hour. That is an unusually large penalty for one side to pay.
This mechanism is called the funding rate. When far more people want to bet down than bet up, the exchange charges the sellers a periodic fee and gives it directly to the buyers to keep the market balanced.
Think of it like an overcrowded room where newcomers must pay an entrance toll to everyone already inside. The more sellers pile in, the more expensive it becomes for them just to hold their ground.
A deep negative rate does not guarantee the price will crash. In fact, if the price stops falling, all those paying sellers may rush to close their positions at once, which can trigger a sharp rebound.
Do not think: everyone is selling, so the price must keep dropping. Think: one side of the market is extremely crowded and paying a heavy ongoing cost to stay there.