Funding Rate Calculator
Calculate what a perpetual futures position pays or receives in funding, and the rate it works out to annually.
A perpetual futures contract has no expiry, which creates a problem: nothing forces its price back towards the underlying. Exchanges solve it with a funding payment exchanged directly between longs and shorts at fixed intervals — usually every eight hours — and this funding rate calculator works out what that comes to over a holding period.
Formula: funding = notional x rate x ceil(hours / interval)
Your figures
Notional value of the perpetual position.
Per interval, from the venue's own page for that contract — the default here is illustrative and belongs to no venue. Rates float every interval. Negative means shorts pay.
Hours between payments. Commonly 8.
Results
Funding paid
-US$6.00
over 3 funding payments
- Funding payments crossedRounded up — funding is charged at fixed timestamps.
- 3
- Per payment
- -US$2.00
- As a percentage of position value
- -0.0600%
- Annualised rateThe same rate multiplied up over a year, for comparison. Simple, not compounded — funding is charged on the position, not added to it.
- -21.90%
- Holding period
- 1.00 days
What this means
A long position of US$10,000.00 crosses 3 funding payments and pays US$6.00. Annualised that is 21.90% of the position's value — which is why a rate that looks negligible per interval is not negligible over time.
- Every figure here is broker-specific and must come from your own contract specification or statement. No broker's or venue's figure is preset: where a field opens with a number it is a round illustration to overwrite, because commission, spreads and rates differ by broker, venue, instrument and account tier, and all of them are revised.
- Funding is charged at fixed timestamps, so a position open across one pays in full whether it was held for hours or minutes. The period count rounds up for that reason.
- Rates change every interval and can flip sign. This prices the rate you enter held constant, which it will not be.
- Some venues cap funding or apply a different formula on illiquid pairs. Check the venue's own specification.
Funding paid: -US$6.00
The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.
Continue with these figures
About the Funding Rate calculation
When the perpetual trades above spot the rate is positive and longs pay shorts, which discourages further buying. When it trades below, the flow reverses. It is a mechanism for anchoring the contract, not a fee the exchange collects, and the money moves between traders rather than to the venue.
Rates look negligible per interval and are not negligible over time, which is the main thing a perpetual funding calculator exists to show. It also prices the discreteness of the charge, which catches out traders who think in holding periods rather than in timestamps.
Funding Rate formula
periods = ceil(holding hours ÷ interval hours)
long funding = − notional × rate ÷ 100 × periods
short funding = + notional × rate ÷ 100 × periods
annualised = rate × (365 × 24 ÷ interval hours)- rate
- The venue's funding rate for one interval. Can be negative.
- periods
- Funding timestamps the position is open across.
- notional
- Position value, which the payment is calculated on.
The ceiling in the period count is the part that surprises people. Funding is charged at fixed clock times, not pro rata, so a position opened one minute before a stamp and closed one minute after pays a full period — the same as one held the whole eight hours. Holding across three stamps costs three payments regardless of the elapsed time between them.
The sign convention follows the money. A positive rate means longs pay, so this calculator returns a negative number for a long — cash leaving the account. Shorts receive the same amount. When the rate is negative the flow reverses entirely.
Annualising is what makes the figure legible. A 0.01% rate every eight hours is 1,095 payments a year, or about 10.95% of the position's value — a cost comparable to an expensive margin loan, arrived at in increments small enough to ignore individually.
Funding Rate: a worked example
A $10,000 long perpetual position held for 24 hours, with funding at 0.02% every 8 hours. These are the figures the page loads with, and the rate is an illustrative one rather than any venue's.
- Periods crossedceil(24 ÷ 8) = 3
- Per payment10,000 × 0.02% = $2.00
- Total, paid by the long3 × $2.00 = $6.00
- As a share of the position0.06%
- Periods in a year365 × 24 ÷ 8 = 1,095
- Annualised0.02% × 1,095 = 21.90%
$6 over a day looks immaterial. The same rate sustained for a year costs 21.90% of the position — which is the figure worth deciding on. The annualisation is simple rather than compound: funding is charged against the position each interval, not added to it.
How to use the Funding Rate calculator
- Take the funding rate from the venue for the specific contract. Rates differ between contracts on the same exchange and change every interval.
- Enter the interval the venue actually uses. Eight hours is common but not universal, and some venues shorten it during volatility.
- Enter the holding period in hours. The period count rounds up, so the perp funding cost matches how the charge is actually applied.
- Set the direction. A positive rate costs a long and pays a short.
- Read the funding rate annualised before deciding whether to hold. It is the honest comparison against any other financing cost.
Limitations of the Funding Rate calculator
Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.
- Prices one rate held constant. Real rates change every interval and can flip sign, sometimes sharply during volatile periods.
- Assumes the position is open across whole intervals from the moment it is opened. The exact timing relative to the venue's stamps changes the count by one either way.
- Excludes trading fees and any spread, which are charged separately.
- Some venues cap funding, use a different formula on illiquid pairs, or apply an interest-rate component. Check the venue's own specification.
- Assumes notional stays constant. In practice it moves with the mark price, so the payment varies with the position's value.
Frequently asked questions about Funding Rate
Who actually receives the crypto funding fee I pay?
Traders on the other side of the contract. Funding is exchanged between longs and shorts, not collected by the venue, which is why it is a transfer rather than a fee — and why a short position can be paid to hold rather than charged.
Why does a position held for one hour pay a full period?
Because funding is charged at fixed timestamps rather than accrued continuously. Being open when the stamp passes incurs the whole payment. Closing a few minutes before it avoids the charge entirely, which is a real and widely used tactic.
Is a negative funding rate free money for a long?
It pays a long to hold, but it is not free money. A persistently negative rate usually means the perpetual is trading below spot because sentiment is bearish, so the funding received is compensation for holding an unpopular position — and the price risk is unchanged.
How does funding compare with forex swap?
Both are the cost of holding a leveraged position overnight, but they arise differently. Swap comes from the interest rate differential between two currencies. Funding comes from the gap between the perpetual and spot price, so it reflects positioning rather than interest rates.
Does funding apply to dated futures?
No. Dated contracts converge to spot at expiry, so no funding mechanism is needed. The equivalent cost there is the basis between the futures price and spot, which decays as expiry approaches.
Last reviewed . See our methodology and editorial policy.
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