Funding rate arbitrage means holding the same asset long on one exchange and short on another at the same size, so that price moves cancel out and you keep only the difference in funding rates. Whether the price rises or falls, a loss on one leg is offset by a gain on the other, and what is left in your hands is the net of what you receive and pay — a delta-neutral trade on perpetual futures (perps).
carryroom searches for these pairs across 49 exchanges, including Binance, Bybit, OKX, Hyperliquid, for BTC, ETH, SOL and many smaller coins, and ranks them by net carry after the cost of getting in and out. See the live list.
The formula, with a worked example
Funding rate arbitrage pays the size of each side times the gap between the two daily funding rates; each exchange's rate is first multiplied by its settlements a day. Example: $20,000 of capital split across two exchanges ($10,000 a side, 1x), a short side at 0.0300% and a long side at 0.0100% every 8 hours (3 times a day), a cost of 0.12% on each side to open and close, held 30 days.
- Received per day
- each side × (short rate × settlements a day − long rate × settlements a day)
$10,000 × (0.0300% × 3 − 0.0100% × 3) = $6.00 - Received over the holding period
- received per day × days held
$6.00 × 30 = $180.00 - Cost to open and close
- each side × (short-side cost + long-side cost)
$10,000 × (0.12% + 0.12%) = $24.00 - Net
- received − cost
$180.00 − $24.00 = $156.00 - Annual rate (received only, simple)
- received per day × 365 ÷ capital
$6.00 × 365 ÷ $20,000 = 10.95% - Annual rate after costs
- net ÷ capital × 365 ÷ days held
$156.00 ÷ $20,000 × 365 ÷ 30 = 9.49% - Days to recover the cost
- cost ÷ received per day
$24.00 ÷ $6.00 = 4.0 days
These are round numbers to show the arithmetic, not today's rates. Rates change at every settlement, so this is a multiplication, not a forecast. Work it out with today's rates.
Why the rate differs from one exchange to the next
A crypto perpetual future has no expiry date. With no expiry, its price can drift away from spot and stay there. So the exchange makes longs and shorts pay each other at regular intervals, penalising whichever side has drifted, to pull the price back. That payment is funding.
The rate is set independently by each exchange. For the same asset, the rate is higher where buyers dominate and lower where sellers do. That is why the same asset carries different rates on different exchanges at the very same moment. Because a gap opens up, selling on the higher side and buying on the lower one earns you that gap regardless of where the price goes.
Exchanges also settle funding on different schedules — every eight hours, every four, every hour. carryroom puts them on a common footing before comparing. What the terms mean · How rates are annualised.
A gap does not guarantee a profit
The gap does not reach your pocket intact. Opening and closing both cost money — exchange fees, the spread between bid and ask, and the worse price you get when you fill in a hurry. Only what is left after those costs is yours.
What carryroom ranks is the figure after those costs are taken out. Rank by the raw rate gap instead, and pairs that costs would wipe out float to the top.
- Rates change at any time — today's gap is not promised tomorrow.
- You must fund two exchanges separately — an unrealised gain on one leg cannot cover a margin shortfall on the other on the spot.
- If one leg is liquidated, you are left holding the other, unhedged.
Other names for the same shape — cash and carry, basis trade, spot plus futures
Cancelling the price move and keeping only the receipt goes by several names. Only two things differ — what you cancel against and where the receipt comes from — and the idea is the same.
- Future against future (the shape on this page) — the same asset, split long on one exchange and short on another. You cancel against the other exchange's future, and the receipt is nothing but the difference in funding rates between exchanges. Shown on Featured pairs and Sustained carry.
- Spot plus futures (cash and carry) — you buy the spot and sell the future on the same asset, cancelling against the coin you hold. The gap between the spot price and the futures price is the basis, and because the trade takes that gap it is also called a basis trade.
- Hedging a yield with a short future (a futures hedge) — you put the spot into lending or staking to earn interest and sell the same quantity of futures to cancel the price move. The receipt is the spot-side rate plus the funding on the futures side. Shown on Yield hedge.
With a future that has an expiry date, the gap to spot narrows towards that date. A perpetual future has no expiry. What stands in its place is the funding payment, and that is what carryroom ranks.
None of these is risk-free. Only the price move is cancelled; one leg being liquidated, the gap reversing, and costs exceeding the receipt all remain.
Where to look
- Featured pairs — what still pays after costs right now, ranked by net.
- Sustained carry — the list for positions held days to weeks.
- Yield hedge — buy spot to earn interest, sell the future to cancel the price move.
- Terms and how to read the numbers — definitions for everything on screen.
- How to do it — the order you actually work in.
- Funding rate arbitrage calculator — enter capital, rates, days and leverage to work out the net and the annual rate.
carryroom is a viewer for public market data and not investment advice. It places no orders, connects to no account or API key, and does not refer you to exchanges for account opening. Disclaimer · About carryroom.
The shape of it, in four steps
- 1. Fund two exchanges Separately — an unrealised gain on one cannot cover the other.
- 2. Sell high, buy low — same size Same asset, same size, at the same time. Funding is higher on the sell side.
- 3. Hold and receive Price moves cancel between the two sides; the funding difference is what is left.
- 4. Close both sides at once Leaving one side open turns it into a plain directional bet.
Costs land on steps 1 and 4 — opening and closing. What this site ranks is what is left after those.
The full procedure, step by step
Questions we are asked
Why do I need two exchanges? Could I not hold both a long and a short on one exchange?
No — a long and a short on one exchange leave no funding gap to collect.
One asset on one exchange has a single funding rate, so whatever the short side receives the long side pays, and holding both simply cancels out. Each exchange sets its rate on its own, so a gap can only exist between two exchanges whose rates differ. On some exchanges the short side's and the long side's shares are set separately and both sides can end up paying, but that still creates no gap inside one exchange.
Which exchanges are being compared, and can I see their names?
carryroom compares 49 exchanges, and their names are listed under "Kinds of exchange" on "Terms and how to read the numbers".
49 is counted automatically from the exchanges shown on the site, so it moves whenever exchanges are added or removed. The list is split into three kinds, each with its own count.
- Decentralised exchange (DEX)
- Centralised exchange (CEX)
- Hybrid — properties of both DEX and CEX: settlement is on-chain yet an account is required, or who holds the signing key depends on how you signed up. Exchanges that fit neither label.
Can I take the difference if I open and close right away? How long is this meant to be held?
You can take the funding difference, but the shorter you hold, the more the costs eat it.
What you receive accrues a little at each funding settlement, while the cost lands in one lump when you open and again when you close. carryroom's "Sustained carry" is the list for positions held days to weeks, and it looks at whether one round trip of cost is recovered over the holding period. Each row carries its own "cost recovery" figure in days, computed from that pair's current rate — read it there rather than from a rule of thumb, because it differs by pair and moves with the rate.
What happens if one of the two exchanges delists the asset or shuts down?
If one side disappears, the other is left taking the price move in full, with nothing to offset it.
The cancelling only holds while both sides are held at the same time, so this is the same shape as losing one side to liquidation.
- carryroom has removed an exchange from its lists once its shutdown was announced, because that side would vanish before one round trip of cost was recovered.
- It cannot get ahead of a delisting that arrives without notice.
Why is the funding rate different from one exchange to the next?
Because each exchange sets it from its own price, on its own settlement interval, by its own rule.
A perpetual future has no expiry, so the exchange keeps its own price near the spot price by making one side pay the other every few hours. Both that price and which way the buyers and sellers lean belong to that exchange alone, so the same asset does not end up with the same rate in two places. The interval differs too, which is why this site restates every rate as a figure per 8 hours before comparing; the interval each side settles on is on the pair's detail page.
- The price gap differs: where the buying side is heavier, the buying side pays more.
- The interval differs: 0.01% every hour is eight times 0.01% every eight hours.
- The rule differs: some exchanges set the buying side's and the selling side's share separately, and both sides can end up paying.
If I sell on the exchange paying more and buy on the one paying less, what is left?
The difference between the two rates, less the cost of opening and closing. Nothing else is left.
The price movement cancels out between the two sides, so it is not what you are collecting. The difference arrives a little at each settlement, while the cost lands in one lump at the open and again at the close, which is why closing early goes badly. And "the one paying more" is true of this moment only: the rates are set afresh every few hours and which side is higher can swap over, so a row whose recent record disagrees with its current rate is marked as such.
- What is left: the difference between the two exchanges' rates, one settlement at a time.
- What is taken out: at both exchanges, for opening and for closing, the fee, the gap between the bid and the ask, and the price slip on filling.
- What is not left: the price movement — and the cancelling holds only while both sides are open at the same time.
Holding both sides cancels the price movement. Does that make it risk-free?
No. What is cancelled is the price movement, and only while both sides are held at the same time.
The two sides sit at two exchanges, so the margin is separated: the profit building up on the winning side cannot rescue the losing side where it stands, and moving money across takes about half a day. That is exactly what the leverage figure on the lists is built on — it asks whether each side on its own would have withstood the worst adverse move inside some 12-hour stretch of the last 30 days. If one side goes, the other is left taking the price move in full. This site is not investment advice and does not tell you what to hold.
- One side can disappear: liquidation, the asset no longer being carried, or the exchange ending its service.
- The difference you receive can shrink, or turn the other way.
- The two orders never fill at the same instant, so there is always a stretch with one side on its own.
- The cost of opening and closing is paid whichever way it goes, and tax is in none of the figures on this site.
Why is a funding rate negative?
Because on that exchange the future is priced below the spot, so the payment runs the other way: the selling side pays and the buying side receives.
Funding exists to pull the future's price back towards the spot price, so whether it is positive or negative follows which way that gap points, and it is set afresh every few hours. In a two-exchange pair, one side being negative is not in itself a problem: what you receive is the difference, so paying on one side still leaves something as long as the other side receives more. The figures here are that difference, after the two have been netted.
- Positive: the buying side pays, the selling side receives.
- Negative: the selling side pays, the buying side receives.
- Which side is higher can swap over time, which is why the lists mark a row whose recent record and current rate disagree.
What forms does funding rate arbitrage take, and which one does this site list?
This site lists only the cross-exchange form: the same asset, futures on both sides, on two different exchanges.
The other forms are not listed, for reasons that are about what can be checked rather than about whether they work. Anything involving a spot leg needs a borrow rate and a borrow limit that the exchange has to publish before the figure can be honest; anything involving options needs a premium that moves with the strike and the expiry, which is a different shape of number entirely.
- Cross-exchange (listed here): futures on both sides, on two exchanges
- Spot versus futures: buy the asset itself, sell the futures. Needs the borrow side to be published
- Same exchange, different expiries: needs a dated contract with enough depth on both legs