Recently, the funding rates have started to spike into those extreme ranges that make your heart race just by looking at them. Honestly, at this point, taking the other side of the trade does seem tempting; the illusion of earning passively is strong. But what I care more about now is: who exactly are you betting against—are you betting against emotions, or against a bunch of automated rebalancing robots?

I'm just someone who has tried various things in DeFi. After falling into a few traps where “high rates = stability,” my basic strategy has become twofold: if the order book is obviously one-sided and volatility expectations are still rising, I prefer to stay away—losing a bit less is fine; only when liquidity is still relatively normal and the liquidation chain isn’t so fragile will I take a small position to bet against the trend, and I’ll set exit conditions in stone, not telling myself stories.

Recently, narratives around AI agents and automated trading have become popular again. As on-chain interactions increase, security boundaries become even more important… Some are “automatically helping you make money,” while others are “automatically turning off your risk controls.” Anyway, when I see extreme funding rates now, my first reaction isn’t to rush in, but to think: can I withstand the worst-case scenario? That’s how I start.