Aave Funding Turns Negative as Open Interest Falls 10.2% in 24 Hours
Aave is trading at $149.24 after a 4.9% decline, while aggregate open interest has fallen 10.2% in 24 hours to $310.7M. The derivatives signal is not simply bearish positioning: the average funding rate is negative, long liquidations dominate the broader windows, and account data still shows a crowded long bias. That combination points to forced deleveraging rather than a clean, fully established short trend.
A recent market commentary also argues that AAVE’s bullish setup may need a flush before a stronger breakout attempt, a view that fits the current liquidation and positioning data more closely than an immediate momentum recovery.
OI contraction is led by major venues
Binance holds $61.8M of AAVE OI, or 19.9% of the tracked total, after a 10.5% daily decline. Bybit is close behind at $59.4M and 19.1% share, with OI down 8.2%. Bitget contributes $29.5M, or 9.5%, after a 9.2% contraction, while OKX carries $17.9M and has declined 5.2%.
The cross-venue picture is therefore broad rather than isolated. Binance and Bybit together account for roughly two-fifths of the tracked OI, and both have shed substantial exposure. The short-term changes are less uniform: Binance OI is up 0.3% over four hours, compared with 3.2% on Bybit and 3.3% on OKX. That rebound in short-horizon activity has not yet repaired the larger daily drawdown, but it does suggest that traders are re-entering or rotating positions after the earlier washout.
Funding is negative, but not everywhere
The funding map is fragmented. CoinEx shows the clearest negative reading at -0.4%, while WhiteBIT is also negative at -0.2%. Kraken is marginally negative, whereas Binance, Bybit, Bitget, Gate, OKX and several other major venues remain positive or close to zero. This matters because a negative aggregate average does not mean every short is being paid across the market; it reflects sharper negative readings on selected venues.
That split weakens the case for an immediate, one-directional short squeeze. If negative funding were broad and open interest were expanding, shorts could be vulnerable to a rapid reversal. Instead, total OI is down 10.2% and the positive venues still show that the market is not uniformly positioned for a collapse. The pressure is more consistent with long-side risk being reduced while tactical shorts build in pockets.
Liquidations confirm long-side stress
Within the latest hour, short liquidations reached $12.4K versus $4.6K for longs, a small counter-move against the wider trend. Over four hours, however, long liquidations climbed to $209.1K against $18.0K for shorts. The imbalance widens over 12 hours, with $518.2K in long liquidations and $22.4K in short liquidations, and over 24 hours, where longs account for $735.8K of the $935.1K total.
The largest recorded long liquidation was $124.5K at $144.78 on Binance, followed by a $68.3K long liquidation at $151.75 on OKX. A $61.9K short liquidation at $154.81 shows that upside squeezes remain possible, but the aggregate structure is still dominated by long unwinds.
Positioning adds an important contradiction. The account long share is 59.2% overall, with Binance at 64.1% and Bybit at 65.0%. Yet Binance takers are only 59.6% long, while Gate takers are 86.4% long against an account long share of 53.9%. In other words, passive account positioning remains long-heavy, while active flow is more aggressive on selected venues. This is a warning that dips may continue to attract buyers even as leveraged longs are being removed.
Verdict: The near-term bias remains negative while AAVE holds below the $154.81 liquidation level, with $144.78 the key downside stress point and $310.7M the OI reference. The bearish view is invalidated if price reclaims $154.81 while OI rises above $310.7M and long liquidations stop dominating the 24-hour structure. Data as of 20:16 Beijing time on Sep 28, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.