In the first month of 2026, the crypto market experienced a shocking turnaround. Once a leader in privacy payments, DASH, with a textbook-style short squeeze and resonance with fundamentals, made a stunning comeback — surging from the $40 range all the way past the $90 mark, with weekly gains soaring up to 125%.

This is not just a visual impact on the candlestick chart; behind it lies the real story of the derivatives market.

**The Secret Signal of Extreme Negative Funding Rates**

The key indicator first comes from the funding rate. When the negative rate drops to an extreme level like -0.43%, what signals is the market sending? Simply put, short positions are piling up, and they are forced to pay longs to maintain their positions. This highly crowded contrarian positioning essentially acts as a powder keg for the subsequent short squeeze.

**The Multiplier Effect of Open Interest**

More direct evidence comes from open interest (OI) data. Before and after the price surge, DASH’s OI expanded from about 500,000 to over 1 million. This number doesn’t lie — a large influx of new capital entered, mostly building long positions, fully activating the trend momentum.

When shorts can no longer hold the line, when the funding rate reverses and longs profit, and every liquidation order pushes the price higher, a meticulous market restructuring begins. This is the deepest operational logic of the crypto market.