USELESS +52% to $0.187: OI +49%, Funding Flips Positive

USELESS keeps ripping: another +52% day

USELESS, the meme token that led this week's alt move, is at it again. Price sits near $0.187, up about 52% over 24 hours on both Binance and OKX, after tagging a high of $0.2066 and bouncing off lows near $0.1174. On Tuesday it traded near $0.101. Three days later, that is roughly 85%.

The move is being driven by derivatives more than spot. Open interest across major venues has climbed 49% in 24 hours to $91.8 million, which means leveraged traders are adding positions into strength instead of fading it. Liquidation data shows who got caught: shorts paid about $4.6 million of the $5.1 million in USELESS liquidations over the past day, roughly 90%.

Funding turns positive after days in the red

What changed this time is the cost of holding a short. Funding rates on Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, Bitget and MEXC all now read about +0.005% per interval, and the open-interest-weighted rate has turned positive after negative prints earlier in the week. For most of the rally, shorts were being paid to hold. That edge is gone.

The flip usually means the squeeze still has room until longs get greedy enough to push rates well above zero. At current levels the premium remains mild, so leverage cost is not yet the main risk.

Venue structure: Binance leads, MEXC takes profit

Binance now holds 27% of total USELESS open interest at $24.7 million, up 56% in a day. OKX follows at $12.6 million, up 60%, and Bybit at $21.5 million, up 45%. Not everyone is chasing. MEXC cut its book by 20.6% over the last four hours and OKX trimmed 3.4% intraday, a sign that part of the crowd that piled in early is booking gains at the highs.

That divergence matters. When venues that added early start reducing while Binance keeps building, the move often loses one of its engines. Watch MEXC's book: if it keeps shrinking while price stalls, expect a faster pullback than the midweek shakeout.

What to watch

Each leg of this USELESS rally has come with higher open interest, the signature of a crowded short base rather than pure spot FOMO. The level to watch is the $0.2066 high. A break above it with funding still near +0.005% would likely force another round of short covering; a rejection there with MEXC reducing further points to a retest near $0.15.

For anyone holding spot or perps, the practical takeaway is simple: the easy short-covering leg is done, and from here the risk-reward depends on fresh longs at these levels. Do not add leverage into the funding flip until rates confirm the trend.

Data snapshot at 01:45 Beijing time on September 4, 2026, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit, Gate, Bitget, Hyperliquid, MEXC and other major venues.