Funding is a periodic position payment.
Perpetual contracts have no scheduled expiry. Funding is one mechanism intended to keep a contract’s price near its underlying reference market. Under the usual positive-rate convention, longs pay shorts; a negative rate reverses that direction.
The displayed funding rate is not the same thing as a trading commission or the return of the position. It can change, and a receipt can be outweighed by price losses, spreads and fees. Check the contract’s own rules rather than applying a Spot balance model to a perpetual position.
Calculate a hypothetical linear payment.
Assume a USDT-settled linear perpetual position of 0.200 BTC, a settlement mark price of 50,000 USDT per BTC and a positive funding rate of 0.01% for one interval. The position is eligible at the venue’s funding time.
| Calculation | Result |
|---|---|
| Position value: 0.200 × 50,000 | 10,000 USDT |
| Rate as a decimal: 0.01 ÷ 100 | 0.0001 |
| Funding: 10,000 × 0.0001 | 1.00 USDT |
Under the stated sign convention, the long pays 1 USDT and the same-sized short receives 1 USDT. This is an original arithmetic example, not a current rate or prediction. Inverse contracts use different position-value units; the linear formula must not be copied into a coin-settled contract without checking its specification.
Attach the interval to the percentage.
A rate of 0.01% per hour and 0.01% per eight hours are different periodic costs. Hyperliquid’s documentation describes hourly funding. Bybit documents contract-specific intervals that can change, so an eight-hour schedule should not be assumed for every symbol.
For a purely mechanical comparison, a fixed 10,000 USDT position charged 0.01% on three occasions would pay 3 USDT in total. That assumes the same notional and rate at every settlement. Repeating the latest displayed rate over a year does not establish an achievable annual return.
The settlement rule decides eligibility.
Check the next funding time, the instrument’s interval and the actual settled record. A countdown on another contract can use a different schedule. Bybit also notes processing uncertainty around its funding boundary, so opening or closing within a few seconds of that boundary should not be treated as a guaranteed way to include or avoid a payment.
A pre-settlement estimate can differ from the final rate. When reconciling an account, use the exchange’s settled funding entries and their timestamps, not a screenshot of a previously displayed estimate.
Keep funding, fees and price P&L separate.
A position can be profitable before costs and less profitable after funding and commissions. A funding receipt does not mean the underlying trade was profitable. Preserve the original settlement currency when comparing records, particularly for inverse contracts.
In Schizo, consult the P&L documentation and the relevant Journal connection’s reporting scope. Shared account equity can change when fees or funding settle, even if the chart price has barely moved. A device’s saved daily Risk baseline is a separate reference, not a funding calculation.