Highest leverage risk in crypto perpetuals right now

ERA and LA are presently the two most fragile spots in crypto perpetuals, driven by extreme negative funding rates and explosive open interest growth that signals crowded short positioning with minimal historical precedent. Traders shorting these tokens are paying extraordinary rates, yet positions keep climbing—a classic sign of leverage accumulation into illiquidity. Meanwhile, ZEC presents a different pathology: elevated risk despite declining open interest, sustained by historically stretched funding and mounting long liquidations.

Key takeaways

• ERA carries a leverage_risk_score of 88, the highest across all tracked instruments, fueled by -1913.21% aggregated funding and open interest that surged +443.1% in 24 hours.
• LA ranks second at 67, with even more extreme funding (-3310.18%) but smaller notional open interest ($12.6M), and shows +0.50 liquidation imbalance favoring long closures over the past day.
• ZEC's risk score of 68 is driven not by volatility in funding or OI growth, but by funding at its 96th percentile (12.57%) combined with -67.3% OI contraction and +0.42 long-biased liquidation pressure.
• HEMI (risk score 81) rounds out the top tier with steep OI momentum (+176.3% in 24h, +212.1% in 7d) on modest 10.95% funding, suggesting leverage accumulation outpacing valuation stress.

The short-squeeze anomaly: ERA and LA

When shorts are paying -1913.21% annualized, and OI still grows +443.1% in a day, it signals trapped leverage with nowhere to exit.

ERA's leverage_risk_score of 88 is unprecedented in this sample, reflecting a market structure rarely seen outside micro-cap or illiquid perpetual markets. The -1913.21% aggregated funding rate means traders holding short positions are hemorrhaging payments to longs at a rate that would consume their capital in hours if sustained. Yet open interest surged +443.1% over 24 hours and +508.4% over 7 days, indicating that despite the extreme cost of shorting, positions are being added. This paradox—acute funding pain combined with position growth—suggests either a flash of uninformed entry or a concentrated group trapped in shorts with poor liquidity to exit.

LA exhibits an even more extreme funding rate at -3310.18%, though its open interest base is smaller at $12.6M versus ERA's $13.9M. The funding_percentile_90d of 0 for both coins indicates these rates are at or below the lowest readings in the past 90 days—a sign of structural dislocation rather than routine volatility. Notably, LA shows +0.50 liquidation_imbalance, meaning more longs were liquidated than shorts in the past 24 hours, a rare signal in a severely short-squeezed market. This suggests the market may be attempting to unwind the imbalance through forced closures of long positions.

The exhausted rally: ZEC's sustained funding stretch

ZEC presents a contrasting risk profile. Its leverage_risk_score of 68 is not rooted in explosive OI growth but in the persistence of elevated funding. The 12.57% aggregated funding rate sits at the 96th percentile of its 90-day history—one of the highest observed across the sample—yet open interest has fallen -67.3% in 24 hours and -66.1% over 7 days. This pattern suggests longs have been closing positions or being liquidated faster than shorts are unwinding, creating a tightening vice. The +0.42 liquidation_imbalance reinforces this: more longs are being forced out than shorts, yet funding remains stretched, implying the remaining long positions are highly leveraged or the short position is particularly thin.

The risk here is different than ERA and LA: rather than trapped shorts in micro-liquidity, ZEC faces the tail risk of a cascade where falling OI meets persistent long liquidations, potentially creating sudden slippage for any trader trying to exit a sizeable long.

Rapid accumulation on modest valuation stress: HEMI and ON

HEMI's 81 risk score is driven primarily by rapid OI growth—+176.3% in 24 hours and +212.1% over 7 days—on relatively mild funding of 10.95%, which sits at just the 3rd percentile of its recent range. This suggests traders are building leverage into a market that has not yet priced in the cost, a classic pre-volatility signature. Liquidation_imbalance is neutral at +0.00, so far no structural bias toward either side.

ON follows a similar pattern with a 66 risk score, +48.6% OI in 24h, and +107.0% over 7d. However, its funding is notably higher at 47.05%, positioned at the 95th percentile—a sign that longs are already being charged steeply to hold. The combination of high funding and continued OI growth suggests traders are entering despite price signals, a hallmark of directional conviction or herd entry into crowded positioning.

What would change this read

ERA and LA's extreme risk would normalize if short funding rates moved toward zero or positive, signaling reduced squeeze pressure—watch for oi_change_24h and oi_change_7d to stabilize or reverse. ZEC's risk would diminish if OI began rising again while funding percentile_90d fell back toward the median, indicating long re-entry at lower conviction. For HEMI and ON, the key is whether OI growth deceleration occurs before funding levels spike further. Any reversal in liquidation_imbalance (shorts beginning to face pressure instead of longs) would be a signal of regime shift across the sample.

*Analysis generated from Quantority's live cross-exchange data pipeline. Descriptive market data, not a trade recommendation.*