Terra coins surge to new highs amid rising open interest, negative funding - CoinDesk

Terra (LUNA-USD) tokens rise more than 10% intra-day to a new record high of $97.77 per coin as open interest soars along with persistent negative funding, crypto derivatives tracking platform Laevitas told CoinDesk via Twitter chat. Smart contract blockchain Terra's (LUNA-USD) native token LUNA jumps 123% just in the past month, and up more than 2,000% Y/Y, making it the ninth largest digital coin by market cap, according to data from CoinMarketCap. "People appear to be shorting LUNA perpetual futures" - a futures contract without an expiry date - as open interest represented by the amount of dollars locked in the perpetual futures contracts doubles to $394M since mid-December, CoinDesk reports. Since mid-December, funding rates have remained negative, a sign that "short traders have been dominant and paying long traders," CoinDesk notes. "The price increase over the last few days was likely triggered by investors buying spot LUNA to lock up in the Astrport lockdrop, then