All calls go to https://fapi.binance.com. All are single GET requests, no pagination needed. All return JSON.
1. Current price + funding rate
GET /fapi/v1/premiumIndex?symbol=ZECUSDT
Returns markPrice (the current mark price) and lastFundingRate (what longs pay shorts every 8 hours, as a decimal — multiply by 100 for percent). Positive = longs pay shorts. Negative = shorts pay longs. Annualise: rate × 3 × 365 × 100.
2. Current open interest
GET /fapi/v1/openInterest?symbol=ZECUSDT
Returns openInterest in coins. Multiply by mark price for dollar value. OI going up = new positions opening. OI going down = positions closing. OI is not directional — it counts both sides.
3. Open interest history
GET /futures/data/openInterestHist?symbol=ZECUSDT&period=1h&limit=24
Returns sumOpenInterestValue (already in USD) over time. Periods: 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1d. Shows the trend — is money flowing in or out?
4. All-accounts long/short ratio
GET /futures/data/globalLongShortAccountRatio?symbol=ZECUSDT&period=1d&limit=8
Returns longShortRatio — the ratio of long accounts to short accounts. Every account gets one vote regardless of position size. Below 1.0 = more accounts are short. At 0.44, that means 69% of accounts are short. This is crowd sentiment.
5. Top-accounts long/short ratio (by headcount)
GET /futures/data/topLongShortAccountRatio?symbol=ZECUSDT&period=1d&limit=8
Same as above but only the top 20% of accounts by margin balance. One vote each. Shows whether richer traders lean the same way as the crowd or differently.
6. Top-positions long/short ratio (by dollar weight)
GET /futures/data/topLongShortPositionRatio?symbol=ZECUSDT&period=1d&limit=8
Top 20% by margin balance, weighted by actual position size. This is where the money actually sits. The gap between this number and the headcount ratio (#5) tells you whether large traders have big positions or small ones.
7. Taker buy/sell ratio
GET /futures/data/takerlongshortRatio?symbol=ZECUSDT&period=1d&limit=7
Returns buySellRatio — taker buy volume divided by taker sell volume. Above 1.0 = buyers are the aggressive side (lifting asks). Below 1.0 = sellers are hitting bids. Also returns raw buyVol and sellVol. Periods: 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 4h, 1d.
8. Funding rate history
GET /fapi/v1/fundingRate?symbol=ZECUSDT&limit=21
Returns the last N funding rate snapshots (every 8 hours). 21 periods = 7 days. Take the mean and annualise to see the trend. Persistently positive = longs are paying a premium (bullish positioning). Negative = shorts are paying (bearish positioning but also squeeze fuel).
How to read the numbers together
- OI rising + L/S falling below 1.0 = shorts are piling in. If price holds or rises, that is squeeze fuel.
- OI rising + L/S rising above 1.0 = longs are piling in. If price stalls, that is long liquidation fuel.
- OI falling = people are leaving, regardless of direction. The trade is unwinding.
- Funding negative + price rising = shorts are paying to stay wrong. Time pressure is on them.
- Taker ratio persistently above 1.0 = buyers are the aggressive side on the tape. Below 1.0 = sellers.
- Top-positions vs top-accounts gap = if top-accounts L/S is 0.40 (many small shorts) but top-positions is 0.90 (dollars nearly balanced), the shorts are small bets, not large convictions.
Symbol note
Most coins use the same ticker on spot and futures (e.g., ZECUSDT). PEPE is the exception — futures use 1000PEPEUSDT (denominated in units of 1,000 PEPE).