Just after 2 a.m., I refreshed and the funding rate started spiking again. In the group, everyone was shouting that they wanted to go take the other side, but I—on the contrary—put my hands back in my pockets… To put it simply, when the rate is at an extreme, you think you’re “getting free money,” but in reality it’s more like betting on where the next needle will land. If you get it wrong, you go down together with the waterfall. My habit is to first watch the liquidation-dense zones and the changes in open interest. Once I see a crowd of leverage squeezed to the same side, even if I want to move against it, I only dare to test a little. If something feels off, I withdraw immediately—I’d rather miss out.

Recently, people keep comparing on-chain “returns” to RWA and U.S. Treasury yields, and honestly, it makes me want to laugh: one slowly earns interest, and the other is constantly giving you a lesson through volatility. When the funding rate gets extreme, I’m more inclined to dodge for a bit and wait until the tide of emotions goes out. Anyway, opportunities won’t come just once.