Bitcoin Funding Rate Turned Negative On Binance, Then Flipped Back

Bitcoin funding rate on Binance dipped below zero on October 5 and stayed mostly negative until October 8. The CryptoQuant Quicktake by Arab Chain called the reading the lowest in nine months. Binance's own history for BTCUSDT shows the dip was real but not that deep. The rate was back above zero by the evening of October 8.

Arab Chain's chart of Binance BTC funding rates, from the CryptoQuant Quicktake.

What the Bitcoin funding rate did this week

Bitcoin funding settles every eight hours on Binance, and the exchange's public history lists 13 prints from October 5 onward. Seven were negative. The first arrived on October 5 at 16:00 UTC at minus 0.0015%, and the sharpest was minus 0.0037% on October 7 at 08:00 UTC.

Two more negatives followed on October 8 before the rate turned. The 16:00 UTC print on October 8 came in at plus 0.0034%, and the next one, at midnight on October 9, was plus 0.0018%. A live check of the premium index on the morning of October 9 showed the pending rate near plus 0.006%.

Not a nine-month low

The Quicktake says the reading is the weakest since last January. Binance's BTCUSDT history says otherwise. Going back to December, the lowest print is minus 0.0152% on February 7. February 6 produced two prints near minus 0.0135%, April 19 hit minus 0.0123% and March 11 minus 0.0111%.

January's low, minus 0.0028% on January 9, is shallower than October 7's reading. A lowest-since-January claim therefore needs February through April to be shallower too, and they are not. CryptoQuant may average several contracts or sample more often than Binance's eight-hour settlements, which could explain a different series. On Binance's own numbers it is still not the deepest dip of 2026.

Bitcoin funding rate versus open interest

The 30-day average of the eight-hour rate stands near 0.0042%, close to the 0.0046% in the Quicktake. Binance treats 0.01% as its neutral baseline, so longs were already paying well under the usual premium before funding dipped.

Contracts outstanding on BTCUSDT shrank 4.6% between October 5 and October 9, from 97,452 BTC to 93,004 BTC. Their dollar value slid from $8.43 billion to $7.60 billion alongside price. Fewer open contracts and a negative rate together point to traders closing positions as much as to new bearish bets.

Price context

Bitcoin closed at $83,322 on October 7 and $81,754 on October 8 on Binance, after a low of $80,394. BTC changed hands near $82,550 on the morning of October 9. Binance's global account ratio rose from 1.02 longs per short account on October 5 to 1.87 on October 9. Most accounts leaned long even as the funding print turned negative.

A negative Bitcoin funding rate does not predict direction on its own, and Arab Chain says as much. These are reported figures and not a trade signal, and none of it is advice to buy or sell bitcoin or any derivative. Next Binance prints land at 08:00, 16:00 and 00:00 UTC.