From the funding rate, the ETH trend: it is definitely not the peak now!

In recent days, the funding rate for Ethereum Perpetual Futures has started to turn negative—this is the first occurrence of a negative rate since ETH began its rise from 2500 USD...

If you often trade Perptual Futures, you should understand what this means.

The funding rate is a mechanism for the periodic settlement of fees between long and short positions, aimed at anchoring the price of Perptual Futures to the spot price.

The funding rate has positive and negative distinctions:

• Funding rate is positive: Long pays funding fees to short → Market bullish sentiment strong
• Funding rate is negative: Shorts pay funding fees to longs → Strong bearish sentiment in the market

In other words, the more willing someone is to incur costs for holding a position, the stronger and more proactive their emotions are.

ETH funding rate turning negative, what does it mean?

This indicates that there is an increasing amount of short-selling power in the market—especially the hedging funds and net short positions are flowing in.

From on-chain data, a large number of nodes have started queuing to exit ETH staking, and the ETH that is about to flow into the market is very likely being used for hedging operations.

But note - this does not represent the market top, on the contrary:

Funding rate turning negative ≠ peak, but may instead be a buildup

Looking back at history, every round of true enthusiasm for ETH has been accompanied by: the funding rates of all major exchanges consistently maintaining above +0.01%.

And now that ETH is close to its previous high, the funding rate has turned negative instead. This can only mean one thing:

The market has not yet "pumped" everyone, and the sentiment remains unstable, even hedging.

But the biggest charm of the market lies in - it is against human nature.

When your mind is full of doubts, feels unreasonable, and you want to short it at a high, it often chooses to blow up in your face directly.

It is now suitable to build long positions in batches when prices dip, at least aiming for the previous high of 4100.

The more you don't believe it will rise, the more it will rise to show you—until you can't help but chase in, becoming its last bit of fuel.