This move by $PIPPIN taught me a lesson.

I just wanted to open a short before bed to make some pocket money, but the more I averaged down, the deeper I got — I underestimated the destructive power of these low-liquidity altcoins. Watching the account balance drop made me realize just how ruthless the hidden killer that is the funding rate can be.

The market makers’ manipulation tactics are really dirty: pump to bait shorts, then reverse and liquidate retail traders. The contract depth of these obscure tokens is already thin, so even a little counterparty activity can cause absurd price swings.

Now that I’m stuck, I finally get it — not every coin is suitable for leveraged trading, especially those with low market cap and unstable volume. The funding rate can slowly eat away your principal, which is even more painful than getting liquidated.

A word of advice: before trading altcoin derivatives, check open interest and funding rate history. Don’t learn the hard way like I did.