Pons ($PONS) advanced more than 10% over the past 24 hours, even as persistent selling pressure accompanied the move. Sellers remained active across both perpetual and spot markets, posing a potential threat to the gains as the broader cryptocurrency market pulled back. That combination of rising prices and net selling framed the central question for the move: how much demand sat beneath it.

Over the same window, $PONS recorded approximately −$7.89 million in perpetual Net Inflow. The metric tracks buying volume minus selling volume, and negative readings indicate that selling outweighed buying.

Spot Markets Show a Similar Imbalance

The spot market reflected the same dynamic. Its 24-hour Net Inflow stood at −$1.64 million, alongside $10.64 million in buying-side Inflow. The figures pointed to net selling, although they could not determine whether sellers were simply taking profits. If demand failed to absorb that pressure, $PONS could give back part of its recent gains.

Funding Rate and Open Interest Point to Bullish Positioning

Despite the outflows, the Funding Rate and Open Interest painted a more encouraging picture of derivatives positioning.

Perpetual contracts are derivatives with no fixed expiry date, and funding payments help keep their prices aligned with spot prices. A positive Funding Rate means longs pay shorts, generally signaling a bullish tilt among traders. At press time, $PONS registered a positive Funding Rate of 0.0032%.

Open Interest, meanwhile, rose roughly 6% to $175.09 million over the same period. The metric measures the value of outstanding derivatives contracts rather than capital waiting on the sidelines. Its growth indicated that outstanding exposure had expanded.

Combined with positive funding, the increase suggested continued appetite for bullish positioning, though it did not confirm that every new position was a long. The result was a tug-of-war for $PONS: traders maintained bullish exposure even as selling volume outweighed buying volume.

Liquidation Levels Could Extend the Rally

$PONS could still advance in the near term despite the selling pressure. The Liquidation Heatmap showed a greater concentration of estimated liquidation levels above the current price. These levels represent potential forced closures of leveraged positions, not ordinary resting buy or sell orders.

If $PONS climbed into those zones, short liquidations could add buying pressure and accelerate the move. However, concentration alone offered no guarantee that the price would reach them. Lower liquidation clusters also left room for volatility if sellers gained control.

For now, bullish positioning supported the upside case, while negative Net Inflows across spot and perpetual markets challenged the rally's buying support. Overhead liquidation levels offered a potential upside catalyst, but whether fresh demand could absorb the selling remained the more immediate test. Going forward, the same indicators — Net Inflows on spot and perpetual markets, the Funding Rate, and Open Interest — offered the clearest read on whether buyers or sellers were gaining the upper hand.

This market analysis was originally published on AMBCrypto.