Traders betting on SKR to fall are paying a steep ongoing fee to keep their positions open. Ten alerts in ten minutes show short positions becoming heavily crowded.
Imagine SKR is trading at around $0.0211. A huge wave of traders wants to profit from the price falling, so they rush into bets predicting a downward move at the exact same time.
Across just ten minutes, the automatic fee charged to downward bettors deepened from -0.1415% to a peak of -0.1623% before settling at -0.1575%. Betting down became significantly more expensive minute by minute.
Crypto derivative markets use a balancing fee called the funding rate. When far more people want to bet downward than upward, the downward bettors must pay regular cash payments directly to the upward bettors to balance the market.
A single alert could be a momentary glitch. Ten consecutive alerts in ten minutes reveal persistent, aggressive short crowding. The side betting down is so desperate to hold their positions that they are willing to pay heavy fees every hour.
A deeply negative rate does not guarantee the price will go up or down. Sellers might successfully push the price lower, or a tiny uptick could force expensive short bets to close rapidly in a sudden squeeze. The outcome remains open.
Do not think everyone is selling, so I should join them. Think downward bets are extremely crowded and expensive right now, creating high tension in both directions.