Bitcoin Pulls Back, But Futures Traders Turn Bullish: Long Squeeze Setup?

Data shows the Bitcoin Funding Rate for the perpetual futures market has turned positive recently, a sign that bullish positions are dominating.

In a new post on X, analytics firm Glassnode has discussed the latest trend in the Bitcoin Funding Rate. This metric measures the average amount of periodic fees that perpetual futures traders are paying each other on the various centralized exchanges right now.

When the value of this indicator is positive, it means long contract holders are paying a premium to the short investors. Such a trend implies a bullish sentiment is dominant in the market. On the other hand, the metric being below zero suggests a bearish mentality may be shared by the majority of futures market traders, as shorts are outweighing the longs.

Now, here is the chart shared by Glassnode that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Funding Rate over the last few months:

As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Funding Rate dipped into the negative territory as the cryptocurrency recovered during April and the first half of May. April in particular saw significant negative spikes in the indicator, implying a heavy bias toward short positioning. Since these bets went against the price trend, they ended up getting liquidated as the cryptocurrency marched higher.

The market bias began to shift in mid-May, with the average Funding Rate reversing into the green zone. Today, the indicator is sitting at a notable positive level, suggesting that investors are betting on a bullish outcome for the cryptocurrency.

Interestingly, this bias toward long positions has been maintained despite the fact that Bitcoin has retraced some of its recovery. One pullback has come in the last 24 hours, and since there has been an excess of long positions, a significant amount of liquidations related to them have followed, according to data from CoinGlass.

From the above heatmap, it’s visible that Bitcoin-related positions have suffered a total of $104 million in liquidations over the past day. Out of these, more than $85 million of the contracts involved have been bullish bets.

If the current market trajectory continues in the near future, it’s possible that more long liquidations could follow, considering the current high value on the Funding Rate. A sharp enough decline could even trigger a long squeeze, a volatile event where a cascade of bullish liquidations is unleashed. It only remains to be seen, though, how the market will develop.

Bitcoin is back at the $75,900 mark following its latest pullback.