Friends who followed me in shorting on Pippin should have made a killing this round. But now it’s time for a warning—the operator is very likely about to exit this time.

Why do I think so? Let’s talk about the entire manipulation logic.

The classic pattern goes like this: they quietly accumulate at the bottom, then start pushing the price up. Just when you think it’s about to take off, they suddenly hammer the price down—longs get liquidated, shorts get a taste of profit and become addicted. After a few rounds of this push and dump, the bears are completely hooked.

That’s when the real show begins. The operator aggressively pumps the spot price by trading with themselves, creating a clear price difference between spot and futures, and sending the funding rate deep into negative territory. Excessively negative funding rates turn shorts into fuel, and the operator uses the funding they earn to keep pumping the spot market.

There’s another detail worth noting: every night at 1 a.m., there’s a downward wick. This timing is subtle—most domestic users are asleep, making it the perfect window to quietly offload positions.

Now here’s the key signal: the funding rate is already close to zero. This means the operator is basically no longer actively maintaining the market, and is likely preparing for the final exit. Stay cautious.