$XAU 空, the bulls had already withdrawn, so there was no need to even pretend—the derivatives market is left with the bears putting on a one-man show. Funding rates have dropped to zero, open interest has barely moved, and active trading over the past seven hours has plunged by nearly 80%. More than 60% of the remaining trades have hit the sell side, and not a drop of leverage fuel has been added for the bulls. The order book says it all: the buy wall is only one-third as thick as the sell wall, and there isn’t even a shadow of bargain-hunting.