KORU is now around 22.6u. In the past 24 hours it has pulled up more than 8x, and it really looks strong. But let me state the conclusion first: I won’t chase it from this level. This is a 3x leveraged ETF that goes long Korean stocks; both gains and losses are amplified versions, so the higher it goes, the more caution you need.
The problem is in the funding structure. Yes, the price is up, but this rally looks more like forcing shorts out—not real, fresh long capital pushing it higher. The contract fee rate has been negative for 8 consecutive readings, which suggests shorts are the mainstream in the market. Open interest also rose 16% in a day: with the funding rate negative on one side and positions increasing on the other, it’s clear that short positions are piling up—growing more and more.
In the active order book, buy orders make up only about 45%, while sell orders are slightly in the lead.
Now look at the big players. The price has been pushed up to the day’s highs, yet over the past 7 hours their long position size has actually shrunk by 11%. The proportion of longs among their positions is only around 40%. Big money is using the rise to reduce, not adding along with it. The spot order book shows the same thing: sell-side depth is deeper than buy-side depth, and sell walls have been sitting overhead as persistent pressure.
In plain terms, shorts are crowded at this level. The squeeze force could easily trigger another wave and push the price higher; but that squeeze power can also run out and then flip back. With a 3x leveraged product, this tug-of-war volatility gets amplified a lot.
So I’m not chasing longs here, and I’m not in a hurry to short either. Chasing longs risks getting squeezed again to keep the rally going; shorting risks getting a violent upward push. I’ll wait to see how this batch of short positions gets dealt with, and let the market choose its direction on its own. At this kind of level, patience matters more than judgment.
#koru $KORU
The problem is in the funding structure. Yes, the price is up, but this rally looks more like forcing shorts out—not real, fresh long capital pushing it higher. The contract fee rate has been negative for 8 consecutive readings, which suggests shorts are the mainstream in the market. Open interest also rose 16% in a day: with the funding rate negative on one side and positions increasing on the other, it’s clear that short positions are piling up—growing more and more.
In the active order book, buy orders make up only about 45%, while sell orders are slightly in the lead.
Now look at the big players. The price has been pushed up to the day’s highs, yet over the past 7 hours their long position size has actually shrunk by 11%. The proportion of longs among their positions is only around 40%. Big money is using the rise to reduce, not adding along with it. The spot order book shows the same thing: sell-side depth is deeper than buy-side depth, and sell walls have been sitting overhead as persistent pressure.
In plain terms, shorts are crowded at this level. The squeeze force could easily trigger another wave and push the price higher; but that squeeze power can also run out and then flip back. With a 3x leveraged product, this tug-of-war volatility gets amplified a lot.
So I’m not chasing longs here, and I’m not in a hurry to short either. Chasing longs risks getting squeezed again to keep the rally going; shorting risks getting a violent upward push. I’ll wait to see how this batch of short positions gets dealt with, and let the market choose its direction on its own. At this kind of level, patience matters more than judgment.
#koru $KORU