Kaspa KAS Funding Hits -0.049% as $66.4M OI Leans Long

Kaspa derivatives are flashing a clear positioning conflict: the aggregate 8-hour funding average is -0.049%, yet total open interest is $66.4M and Binance accounts remain 66.5% long. KAS trades around $0.04128, up 1.3%, while OI has increased 1.7% over 24 hours. That combination points to an overcrowded long-account base meeting unusually negative funding, rather than a clean, broad-based bearish unwind.

A Cointribune EN community roundup also highlights the continuing visibility of crypto communities in the 2026 market narrative, but the KAS derivatives tape is giving a more specific signal: positioning, not community attention, is driving the immediate risk.

OI is concentrated beyond Binance

The largest OI pools are Gate at $11.9M, or 17.9% of the tracked total, Bitget at $10.6M and 16.0%, and Bybit at $9.4M and 14.2%. Binance contributes $2.9M, or 4.4%, leaving the biggest concentration outside the venue used for the available account-ratio reading.

That distribution matters because the top three venues are expanding faster than the total: Gate OI is up 5.0% in 24 hours, Bitget is up 2.2%, and Bybit is up 2.2%. However, all three slipped over the latest 4-hour window, by 0.5% on Bitget, 0.5% on Bybit and 0.5% on Gate when rounded to one decimal. Binance also fell 1.3% over four hours. The pattern is new exposure over the day followed by a modest near-term reduction, a setup that can amplify a reversal if longs continue to pay or receive uneven funding across venues.

Funding is negative in the aggregate, not everywhere

The venue-level funding rate picture is sharply uneven. Aster, Binance, Bitget, Bybit and several other venues show 0.005%, while Gate is higher at 0.010%. Coinbase is at 0.0018%, Hyperliquid at 0.00125%, and Kraken at 0.004728%. CoinEx is the outlier at -0.750%, although its OI is only $108.8K, or 0.2% of the tracked total.

This divergence prevents a simple claim that every KAS perpetual market is paying shorts. The negative aggregate average is nevertheless important because it signals that at least one pricing stream is exerting a strong downward pull. With Binance accounts nearly two-to-one long, the market is vulnerable to a funding-driven squeeze in either direction: negative funding can reward longs if price stabilizes, but it can also reflect stressed short-side pricing while long accounts remain exposed.

Liquidations favor shorts over shorter windows

The liquidation structure reinforces the funding anomaly. In the latest hour, short liquidations were $1.1K and long liquidations were zero. Across four hours, shorts accounted for $1.1K versus $226.7 in longs. Over 12 hours, short liquidations reached $7.4K against $282.3 in longs, making the short side the dominant casualty as KAS held near $0.04128.

The 24-hour picture is more balanced but still not one-sided: long liquidations totaled $11.1K and shorts $7.8K, with $18.9K overall across 17 events. This suggests the latest upward pressure has already removed some long risk while short liquidations have accelerated inside the shorter windows. It is not a liquidation cascade yet; the absolute total remains small relative to $66.4M OI.

Verdict: KAS has a negative-funding imbalance inside a market where OI is still elevated and Binance accounts are 66.5% long. The key reference zone is $0.04128-$0.04129 with total OI near $66.4M: holding that price area while OI remains elevated keeps squeeze risk active, but failure to hold it would expose long-account concentration. The negative-funding view is invalidated if KAS moves above $0.04129 while OI stays above $66.4M and venue funding broadly normalizes positive rather than remaining pulled lower by the current outlier. Data as of 08:17 Beijing time on Oct 12, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.