In the light green glow of a slightly bullish candle, many traders may be lulling themselves with hopes of a reversal, an opportunity to escape from a long string of tough days. They look at the price of 0.0949 USD and can envision a spectacular bounce, forgetting that the market never grants ease. But for those who see through the glossy exterior of prices, the first glance is not hope but an invisible tombstone erected from cold numbers, exposing an uneven battle between large money flows and the fragile confidence of the crowd. This is not a coincidence, but the result of a system designed to weed out the faint-hearted and the uninformed.
Turning over each layer of data, the picture of ATUSDT becomes clearer and filled with warnings. The real money flow is telling an extremely pessimistic story. The Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) in the derivatives market, a clear indicator of active buying and selling pressure, is anchored at a deep negative of -99.376 million USD. This number is not just a regular sell signal; it is solid evidence that bears have completely taken control of the game, continuously pushing sell orders into the market without facing any significant resistance from bulls. Each price drop is a new liquidation wave, reaffirming their overwhelming position. The decisiveness in this selling action shows that confidence in recovery is being severely eroded.
More dangerously, the CVD in the spot market is even more pessimistic, at -853.545 million USD. This is a critical point. This enormous number shows that not only derivative traders are fleeing or being liquidated, but even those holding real assets are aggressively dumping, firmly losing faith in the short-term prospects of ATUSDT. The selling pressure from the spot market is the foundation for sustainable price declines, as it reflects real changes in the sentiment and holding positions of investors. When both CVD indicators are deeply entrenched in the red, we are witnessing a collective flight, a capitulation of the buying side before the relentless pressure from the selling side.
When looking at the Funding Rate, we see an alarming distortion, a sign of complacency and compounded risk. The funding rate continuously sinks deep into the red, reaching -0.0062. Commonly, this means that the Short side has to pay the Long side to maintain their positions, a scenario often seen when the market is in a strong downtrend and the Short side becomes overly confident. However, this confidence is a double-edged sword. Even though the Short side is paying fees, the price continues to go down without any sustainable reversal, demonstrating the overwhelming strength of the sell side and the weakness of the Long side. This indicates that even with the cost of maintaining positions, selling pressure is not diminishing, and it seems that Market Makers are willing to pay fees to keep prices low or even push them lower.
The current Long to Short ratio is nearly balanced at 49.66% Long to 50.34% Short. At first glance, it seems to be a relatively balanced situation, but in such a clear downtrend, a large number of Longs still holding means they are trapped, holding onto losing positions and waiting for a miracle. This is a feast for Market Makers. They will continue to push the price down to trigger the Stop Loss orders of the Long side, accumulating at a bargain price and then truly creating a meaningful recovery, if there is one.
Open Interest (OI) – the total number of open contracts – fluctuates around 51.006 million USD. Notably, while the price is dropping sharply, OI is not declining sharply, and there are even times it slightly increases. This indicates that despite liquidations or position closures of losers, new money is still flowing into the derivatives market, largely possibly new Short positions being opened to take advantage of the downtrend, or stubborn Longers believing in the bottom. Both cases are dangerous signals. Shorts may fall victim to a sudden squeeze if Market Makers decide to reverse to liquidate against them, while stubborn Longers will only increase the liquidation risk if prices continue to slide. This is a zero-sum game where the small players always pay the price for impatience and unclear strategies.
The issue that ATUSDT is facing is not a single incident or a technical Oracle error, but a typical example of how Market Makers operate in the cryptocurrency market, especially with assets that have relatively thin liquidity. When the selling pressure from the derivative and spot CVD peaks, and the Funding Rate signals complacency from the Short side or weakness from the Long side, Market Makers will not hesitate to seize the opportunity. They will use every trick to push the price down, triggering every stop-loss point of the Long side, sweeping through potential liquidation zones. The price is hovering around 0.0949 USD after a deep decline. Without a strong and sustainable buying flow – something that the current CVD does not show at all – every recovery is just a "dead cat bounce," a trap to attract new Long positions, only to continue sinking them into despair.
The strength of Market Makers lies in their ability to regulate liquidity, creating false swings to deceive the crowd's psychology, causing them to get stuck in wrong positions. With trading volume at only 10.08 million USD in 24 hours, ATUSDT has become more manipulable than ever by whales or trading algorithms of Market Makers. This poses a significant systemic risk for those who trade based on emotions or pure technical analysis while ignoring the moves of large money flows. The market has no compassion, and the data is telling that uncompromisingly.
The brutal truth from the indicators has exposed the harsh nature of the market, where cold numbers serve as an indictment of mistakes. Never underestimate the power of Market Makers and their ability to hunt for liquidity, creating psychological traps to profit from ignorance. The current price of 0.0949 USD may be a temporary stopping point, but without a fundamental change in the money flow structure, it is just a stop before continuing an unwanted journey. To survive and thrive in this environment, the mindset of a skeptical systems engineer is essential, always questioning the motives behind every price movement and continuously honing knowledge. A well-educated person is like a polished gem; the forging through bloody lessons and the ability to read the market will be the strongest shield to protect you from the cold liquidation scythes.
This is not investment advice. Please do your own research and make your own investment decisions.
