Funding Rates, Explained
The mechanism that keeps perp price aligned with spot, and turns unbalanced directional bets into income for the other side of the market.
A perpetual contract (perp) is a derivative that lets you trade an asset with leverage, without expiry. Unlike a classic future that settles on a fixed date, a perp can be held indefinitely. But without expiry, what forces its price to stay close to the underlying? The answer: the funding rate.
The funding rate is a periodic payment between longs and shorts, calibrated to push the perp price back towards spot. It's a tax on the side of the market that drifts too far.
À quoi sert le funding rate ?
Imagine BTC at $100,000 on the spot market. On the perp, a wave of euphoric buyers pushes the price to $100,500. The gap (or basis) is now $500. If nothing corrects it, the perp could drift to $101,000, then $102,000… and it would no longer really be a "BTC derivative".
The funding rate solves this elegantly. When the perp trades above spot, the rate becomes positive: longs pay shorts every 8h (on Hyperliquid). Result:
Holding a long position becomes costly. Some close or reduce leverage.
Être short paye. De nouveaux shorts arrivent, poussant le prix du perp vers le bas.
Selling pressure on the perp brings it back close to spot. The gap closes.
If the perp drops below spot (heavy selling pressure), the rate goes negative: shorts pay longs, and the mechanism reverses.
The funding rate doesn't go to the platform. It's a peer-to-peer transfer between traders holding the "expensive" side of the market and those holding the "cheap" side. The exchange takes nothing on it.
How it's calculated, and how much it amounts to
The displayed rate is usually given per 8h period, in percent. On Hyperliquid it's updated continuously and paid three times a day. Simplified formula:
Paiement = Valeur notionnelle de ta position × Taux de funding
Per day: multiply by 3 (since there are 3 8h periods per day)
Worked example
You hold a short perp of 1 BTC at $112,000. The displayed rate is 0.0013% per 8h period.
0,0013 % = 0,000013
112,000 × 0.000013 = $1.456 per 8h period
1,456 × 3 = ~4,37 $ par jour
Positive rate (0.0013%): as a short, you collect $4.37/day. Negative rate (-0.0013%): you pay $4.37/day to the longs.
Annualiser pour comparer
A rate of 0.0013% / 8h can look microscopic. Annualised, it looks different:
0.0013% × 3 × 365 = 1.42% per year. Modest, but these are calm rates. In bull markets, BTC funding can climb to 0.05–0.1% per period, i.e. 55–110% annualised. That's why delta neutral strategies become highly profitable in euphoria.
These annualised rates don't account for compounding (reinvesting your gains), nor for rate variability (it changes each period). These are orders of magnitude, not reliable projections.
Where to read funding rates
Avant d'ouvrir une position, il faut savoir lire le taux en cours et son historique. Trois sources utiles :
Dashboard Hyperliquid
Directly in the trading UI: funding tab on each pair. Shows the current rate, next deadline and real-time predictor.
Hypurrscan
Hyperliquid-specialised on-chain explorer. Full rate history per pair, useful for spotting seasonality and abnormal periods.
Coinglass
Cross-exchange aggregator: compare BTC/ETH/SOL rates on Binance, Bybit, OKX, dYdX, Hyperliquid, etc. at a glance. Essential for spotting divergences.
Ce qu'il faut regarder
Positive = longs pay. Negative = shorts pay. First info to check before opening a position.
An isolated positive rate can be noise. A 7-day positive average signals a clearly bullish market regime.
Funding that swings violently signals an unstable market. Harder to exploit cleanly with delta neutral.
If Binance is at +0.01% and Hyperliquid at +0.05%, there's an arbitrage opportunity (short on HL, long on Binance).
Comment les traders utilisent le funding
The funding rate isn't just a cost or a side bonus, for some trader profiles it's the main income source.
Delta neutral (funding farming)
Buy spot, short an equal-size perp. Price no longer concerns you: you collect positive funding every 8h. This is the flagship strategy explained in the Delta Neutral guide.
Arbitrage de funding inter-exchange
When rates diverge strongly across platforms, short on the exchange where funding is most positive and long where it's most negative. The spread is collected, the position remains broadly neutral.
Signal directionnel
Extreme funding rates (very positive or very negative) often signal positioning excess on one side. Many traders use this as an imminent-reversal indicator.
Entry filter for the long term
If you want to hold a long perp for weeks, avoid pairs with persistent high positive funding. Those costs can eat a large part of your P&L.
A beginner opens a BTC long in perp during an euphoric bull run. Price stagnates for two weeks, but funding is at +0.08%/period. They lose 7% of their capital without the market moving. Funding isn't a detail, it's a central parameter of position cost.
Aller plus loin
Funding rates are the key to the delta neutral strategy. To see how to combine them with Hyperliquid's portfolio margin to maximise yield on capital, head straight to the Delta Neutral guide.