$AKE Everyone has stopped opening new short positions, so the market maker has no incentive to push prices higher and can only let the market move sideways for now.
But if the market moves sideways for a long time, the funding fees on long positions become an expense too.
Let’s put ourselves in the market maker’s shoes: what can they do at this point?
1. Push prices up to attract shorts? Will retail traders open short positions? At the same time, this gives those who entered at the bottom a chance to sell at higher prices.
2. Keep the market moving sideways? Wait for short and long positions to keep piling up, then take profits when the time is right. Funding fees on long positions are a cost.
3. Push prices down? The current market can’t absorb the market maker’s positions accumulated earlier. If prices fall, they’ll have to push them back up, creating volatility through back-and-forth swings to attract traders. The costs are just as hard to control.
Until new positions come in, they can only let the market move sideways and wait for an opportunity.
If you don’t open shorts, I won’t open shorts; if you don’t open longs, I won’t open longs. They’ll wait for retail traders holding longs to take profits while the market maker pays the funding fees on long positions. Once they can’t hold out any longer, it’ll be over.
But if the market moves sideways for a long time, the funding fees on long positions become an expense too.
Let’s put ourselves in the market maker’s shoes: what can they do at this point?
1. Push prices up to attract shorts? Will retail traders open short positions? At the same time, this gives those who entered at the bottom a chance to sell at higher prices.
2. Keep the market moving sideways? Wait for short and long positions to keep piling up, then take profits when the time is right. Funding fees on long positions are a cost.
3. Push prices down? The current market can’t absorb the market maker’s positions accumulated earlier. If prices fall, they’ll have to push them back up, creating volatility through back-and-forth swings to attract traders. The costs are just as hard to control.
Until new positions come in, they can only let the market move sideways and wait for an opportunity.
If you don’t open shorts, I won’t open shorts; if you don’t open longs, I won’t open longs. They’ll wait for retail traders holding longs to take profits while the market maker pays the funding fees on long positions. Once they can’t hold out any longer, it’ll be over.
