Despite negative funding rates for 66 consecutive days, Bitcoin still rose to around $81,000, primarily due to institutional hedging.

According to ChainCatcher, as Bitcoin's price rose to approximately $81,000, its perpetual contract 30-day average funding rate has been negative for 66 consecutive days, setting a new record for the longest period in the past decade. Data shows that in a negative funding rate environment, short sellers have to pay fees to long positions, currently at an annualized cost of approximately 12%. Despite this, Bitcoin's price still rose by about 12% in April, while open interest (OI) increased by about 12%, indicating that the market did not experience typical panic short. Analysts point out that this phenomenon mainly stems from institutional hedging behavior, rather than simply bearish sentiment. This includes hedge funds short futures during redemption periods, basis trading strategies (long on related stocks while short Bitcoin), and mining companies hedging their Bitcoin holdings as they shift towards AI computing power businesses. Historical data shows that buying Bitcoin during similar negative funding rate periods has an 83% to 96% probability of achieving positive returns within a 90-day period. The market generally believes that if the price breaks through the key resistance level of approximately $82,000, it may trigger short covering and push the price further upward; otherwise, it may fall back to the range of $70,000 to $75,000.