What it means

Positioning helps you read the cost of holding perpetual futures: futures contracts with no expiry date. A long benefits from rising prices; a short benefits from falling prices.

Funding is a payment between the two sides. When the rate is positive, longs pay shorts. When it is negative, shorts pay longs. The payment schedule depends on the contract.

The Crowding Index compares each contract's funding with its own past, then takes the middle result across the market. Near 0.5 means the typical contract is near its usual funding level. It does not mean a 50% fee or a 50% chance of a price move.

Open interest (OI) measures positions still open. Every contract has both a long and a short, so rising OI does not tell you which side will win. See Open Interest for more.

In CoinScreener

Open Insights → Positioning. Readings update every four hours (4h) for actively traded Binance USD-M perpetuals, even when no alert fires. Free shows earlier readings; Pro shows the latest available one.

Read the screen in this order:

  • Crowding Index: Is funding high or low compared with the past? The history chart shows how it changed.
  • Price and OI grid: Compare their changes over 24 hours. This view uses OI's dollar value, which can rise just because price rises. Labels such as “New longs” and “Short covering” are clues, not proof of who traded or was forced to close.
  • Crowded lists: Find contracts with unusually high OI and unusually high or low funding relative to the market. An empty list is normal.

“Funding / year” extends today's rate over a year. Rates can change, so it is not a promised cost or return.

Three checks

  1. Check the date. Make sure you know how old the reading is.
  2. Compare the views. Sector Rotation shows which coin groups are getting busier.
  3. Set your risk limit. Crowding can last; it is not a buy or sell instruction. Read Risk and Position Sizing before trading.

Explore examples

These examples compare price with the dollar value of open contracts over 24 hours. They are illustrations, not actual trades.

Price and open interest: four combinations
Price up · OI upNew longs
Price up · OI downShort covering
Price down · OI upNew shorts
Price down · OI downLong liquidation

Unchanged means price or OI moved too little. These labels are clues; they do not prove who traded or whether anyone was forced to close.

Product example

See the product example
Inside CoinScreenerPositioning · funding and open interest
CoinScreener Positioning showing the Crowding Index, observation timestamp and free-access notice.

Check the date and free-access notice before reading the Crowding Index.

Web app captured . Figures are a dated snapshot.View full-size
Inside CoinScreener

Positioning · funding and open interest

CoinScreener Positioning showing the Crowding Index, observation timestamp and free-access notice.

Sources

Product explanation checked on 12 September 2026. Screenshot date shown above.

Binance: Funding · Binance: Open Interest