Aptos (APT): Here's What Contributed to Recent Price Move

One of the newest cryptocurrencies, Aptos (APT), is attracting a lot of attention. Exactly a week ago, the Aptos blockchain went live after the project received an influx of capital from venture capital (VC) firms and crypto exchanges like a16z, Binance and FTX.

APT, the native token of the Aptos blockchain, was trading at $9.58 at the time of publication, down 3.65% in the last 24 hours and up 15% since the past week. On Oct. 23, APT reached a new all-time high of $10.25.

Aptos has been able to position itself among the top 50 cryptocurrencies in terms of market valuation amid rapid value growth. Aptos ranks 42nd largest cryptocurrency with a market valuation of $1.23 billion and with 130 million APT in circulating supply.

Here's reason for recent price move

Wu Blockchain reported on Oct. 23 that the Aptos token perpetual contract funding rate is negative across major exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Bybit and FTX, citing Coinglass data.

A negative rate denotes a bearish outlook, with short-position traders dominating and willing to pay long-position traders.

The primary reason behind funding rates turning negative might be active hedging after the developers behind Aptos seemed to show an inadequate understanding of some blockchain operations, such as the Sybil attack.

APT previously saw a sharp increase in selling pressure following the release of an unexpected airdrop, which resulted in the opening of short positions.

More often than not, when funding rates turn overtly negative, short liquidations tend to occur, resulting in a "short squeeze" or a surprise bounce. Aptos was a top gainer in the markets on Oct. 23 as its price rose from lows of $8.88 to set new all-time highs.