A funding rate of 0.03% sounds like nothing. Paid three times a day it annualises past 30%. This converts the small number into the real one.
Perpetual futures have no expiry, so funding is the mechanism that keeps them tethered to spot. When the contract trades above spot, longs pay shorts; when it trades below, shorts pay longs. Most venues settle it every eight hours — three intervals a day.
annualised = rate per interval × intervals per day × 365
Sustained positive funding means the crowd is long and paying for the privilege. That is not automatically bearish, but it tells you who is being charged for patience, and it is why extended funding extremes so often precede violent unwinds: the cost of holding the consensus position eventually exceeds the conviction behind it.
Before holding a perp for days rather than hours, annualise the current rate. If funding alone consumes a meaningful slice of your expected move, the trade wants spot exposure or a different instrument — not more patience.
This calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is transmitted, logged or stored.
Most venues use eight-hour intervals, so three times a day, though some use one-hour or four-hour schedules. Set the intervals field to match your venue.
Generally no — funding is exchanged only between positions open at the settlement timestamp, which is why some traders deliberately flatten just before it.
Being paid to hold a position is real, but it comes with the position's own directional risk. The carry is only clean when the exposure is hedged.
Open the free Web3 desk — no account, nothing to install