Bitcoin dips back to 90,000, funding rate reveals the market's true sentiment

【Blockchain Rhythm】 Recently, the market is repeating the same old pattern—rising to a certain height and then crashing down. Data from January 9th shows that Bitcoin has once again fallen back to the $90,000 mark.

Looking at the funding rate, the market sentiment is very clear. Whether it’s mainstream centralized exchanges or DEXs, including Bitcoin and various altcoins, the funding rates are signaling the same message: most people are currently leaning towards bearishness.

Some people might not be very familiar with the concept of “funding rate,” so I’ll give a brief explanation. The funding rate is essentially the mechanism of money flow between long and short positions in contract trading. Exchanges use it to maintain the balance between perpetual contract prices and spot prices. The fees are not collected by the exchange but are directly transferred between traders. Simply put, your costs and gains for going long or short are adjusted based on this rate.

The standard for judging bullish or bearish sentiment is quite straightforward: 0.01% is the baseline. If the rate exceeds 0.01%, it indicates that more market participants are leaning bullish. If it drops below 0.005%, the bearish voices dominate. According to data from various exchanges, the current rates are trending downward, which means fewer people are going long, and some are even starting to reverse their positions.

In other words, the funds in the market are actively telling you: they are not that optimistic about the current price. This also explains why rebounds often fail to gain momentum—there isn’t enough bullish strength to support them.