This wave at $INTC jumped up by 14.78%. The old dogs aren’t focused on the candlesticks; they’re watching the funding rate. It’s been nearly a 15-point rise in 24 hours, with the funding rate stable at 0.00000000, not a penny more, not a penny less. This number is more interesting than the price itself; despite such a surge, the bulls are surprisingly not overcrowded. This suggests that either the bears are completely flat with no margin added, or this buying pressure didn’t go through the contract channel at all, but was a hard spot purchase. The open interest (OI) is now 204 million, coupled with a trading volume of 266 million; the turnover isn’t outrageous but is active enough. The old dogs scanned the order book, and the 112.79 level is perfectly stuck at the upper edge of a dense trading area from the past two weeks. If it pushes up a bit more, there’s technical resistance around 115, where quite a few orders from the end of November are trapped.

This week, the Semi sector hasn’t shown much movement, and the benchmarks are all just lying flat. $INTC seems to be doing its own thing, disconnected from the sector. In the past, such situations usually meant there was an independent narrative brewing, but the tradFi announcement board is clean with no new catalysts. This leaves only one explanation: someone has been accumulating at the bottom and is starting to test the waters as liquidity thins out before and after Christmas.

Trade tags: #BinanceFutures #TradFi #USDⓈM #INTC #INTCUSDT $INTC