$PIPPIN touched a low of 0.273 after continuous decline, then rebounded and oscillated around 0.283. Many people in the forums speculated that whale traders would exit at this price level to break even, but few actually calculated the costs: if the whale has been holding positions for over a month, the funding fees incurred are already substantial expenses. Just covering these costs alone has become a luxury—unless the coin price goes directly to zero.

What's even more painful is the funding fee mechanism itself. When going long against whales, you have to fight against continuous selling pressure while being eroded by negative funding fees every hour; going short faces the risk of being liquidated by a short squeeze, and once it rebounds you'll pay double the funding fees. Sideways market conditions are a trap too—during negative funding periods, you're literally burning money. This is the ruthless reality of perpetual futures trading—regardless of whether you get the direction right, funding fees are relentlessly grinding away your profit margin. For retail traders with small to medium amounts of capital, just figuring out how to deal with funding fees is already exhausting enough.