PUMP fell 7% over the past 24 hours, the steepest among the major contracts. But the liquidation data doesn’t match: only $1.10 million was liquidated for the whole day, 458 trades, with a trading volume of $260 million. For WLD, which also fell, $2.04 million was liquidated—almost entirely long positions.
The difference is in open interest. PUMP’s contract open interest dropped from just over $200 million to $168 million in a day, a contraction of 17.5%. On Binance, open interest was down 13%, while on OKX it dropped directly by 25%. These positions weren’t cleared by liquidations; they were withdrawn voluntarily. The longs noticed something was off and left first—price was pushed down by this wave of retreat.
ZEC is the same story in a larger version: down 4.2%, with $786 million in open interest shrinking by 8%, yet liquidations were only $1.64 million.
WLD is the opposite: open interest fell only 4%, but nearly 100% of the $2.04 million liquidations were long positions. In the accounts, 64% of people are still long, and the funding rate has already turned negative. Positions haven’t been fully withdrawn, and people still haven’t admitted defeat.
My take: when it’s the same kind of selloff, PUMP and ZEC—where traders actively reduce positions—means leverage is already being cleared, and the drop is actually cleaner. When the decline is driven by liquidating longs—like WLD—people are still standing in the arena (so there’s often a second leg to come).
Breakdown of open interest and liquidations by coin: coinboss.com/liquidations
The difference is in open interest. PUMP’s contract open interest dropped from just over $200 million to $168 million in a day, a contraction of 17.5%. On Binance, open interest was down 13%, while on OKX it dropped directly by 25%. These positions weren’t cleared by liquidations; they were withdrawn voluntarily. The longs noticed something was off and left first—price was pushed down by this wave of retreat.
ZEC is the same story in a larger version: down 4.2%, with $786 million in open interest shrinking by 8%, yet liquidations were only $1.64 million.
WLD is the opposite: open interest fell only 4%, but nearly 100% of the $2.04 million liquidations were long positions. In the accounts, 64% of people are still long, and the funding rate has already turned negative. Positions haven’t been fully withdrawn, and people still haven’t admitted defeat.
My take: when it’s the same kind of selloff, PUMP and ZEC—where traders actively reduce positions—means leverage is already being cleared, and the drop is actually cleaner. When the decline is driven by liquidating longs—like WLD—people are still standing in the arena (so there’s often a second leg to come).
Breakdown of open interest and liquidations by coin: coinboss.com/liquidations