$PIPPIN after continuous decline touched a low of 0.273, then rebounded to oscillate around 0.283. Many people in community discussions speculate that whales will liquidate their positions at this price level, but few have actually done the math: if whales have been holding against shorts for over a month, the funding costs accumulated are already a substantial expense. Just covering these costs for breakeven has become a luxury — unless the token price goes directly to zero.

What's even more painful is the funding rate mechanism itself. When going long against whales, you have to fight continuous selling pressure while being constantly eroded by negative funding rates every hour; going short faces the risk of being liquidated, and once it rebounds you'll have to pay double the funding costs. Sideways market conditions are the worst — during negative funding periods, you're literally burning money. This is the harsh reality of perpetual futures trading — regardless of whether you get the direction right, funding costs relentlessly eat away at your profit margins. For retail traders, just figuring out how to deal with funding costs is already exhausting.