BlockBeats News, May 5th. As Bitcoin's price reached around $81,000, its perpetual contract's 30-day average funding rate has remained negative for 66 consecutive days, setting a record for the longest streak in the past decade.

Data shows that in a negative funding rate environment, shorts have to pay fees to longs, with the current annualized cost at about 12%. Nevertheless, Bitcoin's price rose by around 12% in April, with open interest (OI) also increasing by about 12%, indicating that the market did not experience the typical panic selling.

Analysts point out that this phenomenon is mainly due to institutional hedging behavior rather than just bearish sentiment. This includes hedge funds shorting futures during redemption periods, basis trading strategies (going long on related stocks while shorting Bitcoin), and mining firms hedging their Bitcoin holdings when transitioning to AI mining activities.

Historical data indicates that buying Bitcoin during similar negative funding rate phases has resulted in a positive return over a 90-day period with a probability as high as 83% to 96%. The market generally believes that if the price effectively breaks above the key resistance level of around $82,000 or triggers a short squeeze rally, it will drive the price further upwards; otherwise, it may fall back to a range of $70,000 to $75,000 for consolidation.