$ASTER 空—this trade, I’ve got it nailed down tight— the futures contract market has shown its true colors: basis has flipped directly into negative contango (backwardation), with futures trading lower than spot by a full head; the net long-minus-short is being kept below the long/short balance line because being “active long” is being pressed under by the shorts. Less than half of buyers are there, and the futures as the main thread means initiative is entirely in the shorts’ hands. The technical picture is delivering blow after blow: price pushes through the upper Bollinger band, overbought indicators are all simultaneously spiking into overextension, and sentiment is even more one-sidedly bearish—buying at a spot that’s sizzling hot is just lifting a sedan chair for the old big players above. The pullback is only a matter of time.