Bitcoin Traders Are Divided, But Binance Metrics Offer Clues

• Binance funding rates flipped negative, signaling rising short pressure and shifting trader sentiment.
• Whale activity and long positions surged, suggesting accumulation despite overall market caution.

While all eyes are on Bitcoin’s continued thrilling move, Binance data is quietly providing more clues. In the past few days, the platform has seen a sharp increase in short positions from traders, despite the market previously being dominated by long positions, according to CryptoQuant.

This is evident from the surge in open interest that hit an all-time high of $12 billion. However, after a deep correction, that number plummeted 37% to $7.5 billion—as if marking a mass purge of overcrowded long positions.

Bitcoin Funding Rate Swings Reflect Market Uncertainty

Interestingly, the funding rate has also experienced quite extreme ups and downs. When Bitcoin was dancing around $75,000, the funding rate rose to around 0.04%. But after the price dropped, this metric shifted into negative territory, indicating the dominance of selling pressure and worsening market sentiment.

Of course, this begs the question: is the market preparing for a deeper decline, or is it just catching its breath for another jump?

Unusual Signals from Whales

Furthermore, the difference between spot and perpetual prices is in the spotlight. Spot prices are now around $60 higher than perpetuals. This means that even as the derivatives market is filled with fear, some market participants are still quietly accumulating BTC on the spot. It’s like watching a long line at a store when everyone says they don’t need anything.

However, not all market participants are on the defensive. A whale just opened a $136 million long position on Binance Futures with 40x leverage—a move that was clearly not done on a whim.

As a result, BTC/USDT open interest rose 3.2% in just one hour, hitting $18.5 billion. On the other hand, whale trading volume in the last 24 hours also increased 12%, suggesting that these market giants are moving fast.

Not stopping there, data from early May 2025 shows that the number of addresses holding more than 1,000 BTC increased by 3.1% in just a week. The total net accumulation reached 12,400 BTC.

In fact, in late April, wallets that had previously been dormant for 3 to 5 years suddenly became active and transferred more than 8,000 BTC—worth around $760 million. This activity is difficult to consider as a mere coincidence.

On the other hand, CNF also previously reported that Bitcoin’s MVRV ratio has increased by 21.84% in the past three weeks. This spike shows the increasing unrealized gains of old investors, and could trigger a change in the overall market mindset. Many institutions and whales continue to add to their positions, even though the market looks hesitant.

Just imagine if you were in the middle of a market full of selling pressure, but the big players were buying up goods behind the scenes. It could be that they see something that the majority has not seen.

As of this writing, BTC is trading at about $95,933.29 with a slight decrease of 0.42% in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, its daily trading volume touched $16.12 billion.

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