TAO OI Tops $384M: MEXC Fades as Binance, HL Add

TAO Breaks Out to $273 as Perp OI Jumps 10%

TAO, the native token of the Bittensor network, pushed to a 24-hour high of $273 on Binance and $272.5 on OKX before settling near $262.7. Both exchanges show the same 11.4% daily gain, and the move follows a slide that took the token to $233 four days ago. The fresh leg higher comes with open interest at $384.3 million, up 10% in 24 hours, according to exchange-wide perp data. What stands out is not the price itself but where the leverage is moving.

MEXC Cuts OI While Binance and Hyperliquid Add

The OI build is not evenly spread. MEXC, which had been the largest venue for TAO perps, cut its open interest by 14.3% over the day to $75.8 million, dropping to the second spot. Binance overtook it with $81.1 million, up 15.3%, and now holds a 21.1% share. Hyperliquid added 39.5% to $64.8 million, Bybit climbed 31.8% to $51 million, and Gate rose 15.8%. KuCoin was the other notable seller, down 7.8% to $27.1 million. Net positions shifted from a few dominant venues into a wider, more balanced footprint, which usually makes the rally harder to reverse in a single flush.

Funding Stays Mild Despite the Move

Funding rates across major venues remain low for a token up 11% in a day. Binance, Bybit, Gate and MEXC all sit near 0.005%, while OKX reads 0.01% and Hyperliquid 0.0065%. The volume-weighted average is around 0.0058%, roughly half the level seen during TAO squeezes in early August. Mild funding means new longs are not yet paying a heavy premium to hold, and there is no obvious overcrowding signal in the cost of carry. Liquidation pressure is also light, with only about $1.02 million in perp liquidations for the token over 24 hours, shorts accounting for roughly 71% of that.

What to Watch at $273

TAO cleared the $240-250 range that capped it for most of the week and is now testing the $273 area, which matches the high printed in late August. Resistance sits just above, and the pattern of MEXC deleveraging into strength suggests some large holders took profit on the way up. That is not bearish by itself, but it does mean follow-through depends on whether the new Binance and Hyperliquid longs hold. If funding starts printing above 0.01% while price stalls under $273, the setup leans toward a pullback; if OI keeps climbing with price, the next leg targets the late-August ceiling near $290. Either way, the venue split is the metric to watch in the next session.

Data as of 06:10 Beijing time, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit, Hyperliquid, Gate, Bitget and other major exchanges.