Funding Rates

Definition

Funding rates are a mechanism that exchanges use to ensure that perpetual futures trade at a price that is close to the price of the underlying spot markets. Realized funding rates are covered for perpetual futures.

Although the method for calculating the funding rate differs among exchanges, the basic concept remains the same: the funding rate is positive when the price of perpetual futures exceeds the spot price of the underlying asset, and negative when the price is below the spot price. In cases where the funding rate is positive, holders of long positions compensate short position holders. Conversely, when the funding rate is negative, short position holders compensate long position holders. This funding rate mechanism incentivizes traders to maintain alignment between perpetual futures prices and the underlying spot price.

Details

Exchanges differ in their funding rate mechanism design and how they report the data through their API.

Realized funding rate: Many exchanges report two different funding rates. The realized funding rate represents the actual funding rate calculated over the previous funding interval and is used to determine the funding payment. The predicted funding rate is the current estimate of what the funding rate will be at the end of the current funding interval. Some exchanges refer to this as the real-time funding rate or the next funding rate. While the predicted funding rate may be important to certain users, in this data concept we focus on the realized funding rate. Any references to the term "funding rate" in this document refer to the realized funding rate.

Funding interval: The funding interval represents how often the funding rate and funding payments are calculated. For many exchanges, a funding rate is produced every 8 hours and is calculated based on the difference between the futures' price and the spot's price over the previous 8 hours. In this case, the funding interval is 8 hours. For some exchanges, the funding rate and funding payments are calculated on a continuous basis, so the funding interval is set to 1 millisecond by convention.

Exchange Funding Rate Frequencies

Exchange	Funding Rate Frequency
Binance	real-time
Bitget	every 8 hours
BitMEX	every 8 hours
Bybit	every 8 hours
Coinbase Intl	every hour
Deribit	real-time
dYdX	every hour
FTX	real-time
Huobi	every 8 hours
Hyperliquid	every hour
Kraken	every 4 hours
OKEx	every 8 hours

API Endpoints

Futures

Availability

Funding rates are available via REST API for historical (time series) data as well as WebSockets for real-time data.

Exchange Data Availability

Exchange	Futures Market Start Date*
Binance	2019-09-10
Bitget	2024-11-21
BitMEX	2020-05-01
Bybit	2021-09-24
Coinbase Intl	2025-03-16
Deribit	2019-04-30
dYdX	2024-11-26
FTX**	2020-12-15
Huobi	2020-03-25
Hyperliquid	2025-03-16
Kraken	2018-08-31
OKEx	2021-07-11

*These dates represent the oldest start date we have for Funding Rate data across all contracts
**As of 2022-11-12, we stopped supporting FTX, but historical data will remain available

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Funding Rates in crypto?

Funding rates make the perpetual futures contract price close to the index price. It is designed to be closer to the spot prices and covers some of the gap generated by the perpetual period of time. All cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges use funding rates for perpetual contracts and the standard unit is a percentage.

Funding Rate is a result of market behaviors and could be used to make some interpretation in the derivative market which also is a dominant price maker in the market. However, correlating high funding rates with inevitable price drops could be a wrong interpretation. In the bull market, it tends to naturally bring high funding rates with a price rise.