Funding Rate Calculator
What it costs to hold a perpetual open, per interval and per year.
How it works
Perpetual futures have no expiry, so funding is the mechanism that keeps them tethered to spot. When the rate is positive longs pay shorts; when it is negative shorts pay longs. It is charged on your full notional, not on your margin.
The baseline 0.01% per 8 hours sounds trivial and annualises to about 10.95%. In a heated market the rate can sit at 0.1% or higher, which annualises past 100% — at that point funding, not direction, is the dominant cost of the position.
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How the Funding Rate Calculator works
A funding rate calculator shows what it costs to hold a perpetual futures position open. Funding is charged on your full notional at fixed intervals, so a rate that looks like a rounding error can become the dominant cost of a multi-week position.
What funding is for
Perpetual futures never expire, so nothing naturally pulls their price back to spot. Funding is the mechanism that does it: when the perpetual trades above spot the rate goes positive and longs pay shorts, which makes holding a long more expensive and pushes the price back down. When it trades below spot the flow reverses.
It is a transfer between traders, not a fee taken by the exchange. That matters, because it means you can be on the receiving side.
Small numbers, large annual rates
The baseline rate on most venues is 0.01% per 8-hour interval. Three payments a day, 365 days a year, and that annualises to about 10.95% — already comparable to the cost of margin borrowing.
In a heated market the rate routinely hits 0.1% or more per interval, which annualises past 100%. At that point direction is no longer your main exposure: you are paying more than 8% a month simply to keep the position open, and the trade needs to move in your favour just to stand still.
When funding becomes the trade
Persistently positive funding creates the cash-and-carry: buy the asset on spot, short the same size in perpetuals, and collect funding while remaining delta-neutral. Price direction stops mattering, since the two legs offset.
It is not free money. You need capital on both venues, you carry liquidation risk on the short leg if it is not fully collateralised, and the rate can flip negative without warning. But it is the clearest example of why funding deserves to be modelled rather than ignored — and why the PnL calculation is incomplete without it.
FAQ
How often is funding charged?expand_more
Every 8 hours on most exchanges, typically at 00:00, 08:00 and 16:00 UTC. Some venues use 4-hour or 1-hour intervals, especially on volatile pairs. You only pay if you hold the position at the exact settlement moment — being flat a minute before costs nothing.
Do I pay funding on my margin or on the position size?expand_more
On the full notional. This is what makes high leverage expensive to hold: at 50× your funding bill is fifty times larger than your margin would suggest, and it is charged whether the trade is winning or losing.
Can I earn funding instead of paying it?expand_more
Yes — whenever you are on the side the rate favours. Negative funding pays longs, positive funding pays shorts. Traders who systematically harvest this usually pair the perpetual with an offsetting spot position so they collect the rate without taking a directional view.
Does funding compound?expand_more
Not automatically; each payment settles to your balance. The annualised figure here is a simple projection of the current rate, not a compounded return — and since rates change constantly, treat it as a snapshot of what the market is charging right now rather than a forecast.