What is a funding rate on perpetual futures?
The funding rate is what longs and shorts pay each other to keep a perp's price near the spot price. How it works, how often it's paid and what it costs you.
Updated Nov 8, 2026
In short
Perpetual futures never expire, so something else has to keep their price close to the real one. That's funding: a small payment between longs and shorts, made at regular intervals. When the perp trades above the spot price, longs usually pay shorts; when it trades below, shorts pay longs. It's paid on the size of your position, not your margin, so it adds up on leveraged positions held for a long time.
Why perps need it
A future normally has an end date, when its price meets the spot price. A perpetual future doesn't, so it could drift away from the asset it tracks. Funding pulls it back: when many people are long and the perp trades above spot, holding a long costs money and holding a short earns it, which nudges the price back down.
How it's worked out
Each venue has its own formula, but most combine two parts:
- A premium, from the gap between the perp's price and the spot price.
- An interest part, a small fixed rate. On Hyperliquid it's set at 0.01% every 8 hours.
How often it's paid differs: every 8 hours on many exchanges, every hour on Hyperliquid.
What it costs you
Funding is charged on your position's full size. A $10,000 long paying 0.01% an hour costs $1 an hour, or about $24 a day, whatever your margin. Held for weeks in a crowded market, funding can cost more than the trade makes. When it's in your favour, it's income.
In Burokku
The Perps tool shows every perp account together, with your exposure per coin across Hyperliquid, Lighter, Aster and your exchanges. Funding received and paid is part of your history, your profit and loss, and the perpetuals part of your tax report.
Questions
- Who receives the funding?
- The other side of the trade. Funding is paid between traders, not to the exchange. Hyperliquid, for example, says it collects no fee on funding payments.
- Does funding count for tax?
- In many countries funding received or paid is part of your trading result. Burokku's tax report counts perpetuals apart from spot: what closing them realised, funding received and paid, and their fees. Ask your accountant how your country treats it.