Have you ever wondered why the funding rates are so outrageous? The underlying logic is actually not complicated—whales can easily push a 10% or 20% increase by controlling the spot price with just a few hundred or thousand coins. How much room for manipulation is there? Contracts worth billions of dollars are being influenced by just tens of thousands of dollars in spot trading. It’s like a mouse dragging an elephant.

What does this situation mean for traders? Short sellers are continuously worn down by funding fees, watching their profits erode daily; long traders have to occasionally endure sudden price spikes. When the market structure is so unbalanced, small retail investors are actually in a very difficult position to win. Understanding this logic also explains why contract trading is so easy to lose money.