Leverage
The derivatives tape: what leveraged traders are paying to hold their bets (funding), how much money is in those bets (open interest), which way the crowd leans (long/short), and who just got carried out (liquidations). This is where crowding shows up before it shows up in price.
| Asset | Funding | Annualized | Open interest | Long/short | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | +0.0035% / 8h | +3.8%/yr | $2.44B | 1.57 L/S | OKX |
| ETH | +0.0066% / 8h | +7.2%/yr | $1.40B | 1.96 L/S | OKX |
| SOL | +0.0073% / 8h | +7.9%/yr | $311.6M | 2.45 L/S | OKX |
| XRP | +0.0087% / 8h | +9.5%/yr | $85.0M | 3.31 L/S | OKX |
| DOGE | +0.0100% / 8h | +11.0%/yr | $93.9M | 4.37 L/S | OKX |
Single-venue snapshots from public exchange data, refreshed with each site build; they move with the market but are not market-wide totals.
BTC funding, last 21 intervals
Each point is one 8-hour funding interval (%). Above zero, longs pay shorts; the further from zero, the more crowded the trade.
BTC open interest, 30 days
Total money in open contracts on the venue. Rising OI with rising price is new money chasing; falling OI into a move is positions closing out.
Recent liquidations
| Asset | Forced closes | Longs liquidated | Shorts liquidated | Window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | 100 | $323K | $351K | last 7h |
| ETH | 100 | $1.2M | $99K | last 4h |
| SOL | 100 | $128K | $750K | last 9h |
| XRP | 100 | $114K | $200K | last 11h |
| DOGE | 100 | $174K | $134K | last 10h |
Forced position closes on one venue's public feed, by which side got caught. Lopsided liquidations show which crowd was leaning wrong.
Leverage 101
A perpetual swap has no expiry, so exchanges keep its price pinned to the real market with funding: every eight hours, one side pays the other. Positive funding means longs are paying shorts, the crowd is leaning bullish and paying for the privilege. Negative funding means shorts are paying, the crowd leans bearish.
Near-zero funding is a calm market. Persistently rich funding (think tenths of a percent every 8 hours, double-digit annualized) means a crowded, expensive trade that often unwinds violently when price stops cooperating. It is a crowd gauge, not a direction signal.
Open interest is the total money sitting in open contracts. Rising OI with rising price = new money chasing the move. High OI is also fuel for liquidation cascades: when price moves fast against the crowd, forced closes accelerate it.
The long/short ratio counts accounts positioned each way. At 1.00 the crowd is balanced; well above it, longs are crowded. A heavily crowded side is the side that gets squeezed hardest when price goes the other way.
A liquidation is a leveraged position the exchange force-closed because the margin ran out. Lopsided liquidations tell you which crowd was wrong today, and clusters of them can accelerate the very move that caused them.
These are snapshots from one venue's public data, not the whole market, and funding flips fast. Treat this as context for how stretched the boat is, never as a trade signal on its own.
Perpetual-swap funding and open interest from public exchange data (single-venue snapshots, not market-wide totals).
This time last week: also positive.
As of 8:24 PM ET on Oct 15, 2026.
Sources: public market data, alternative.me, mempool.space.