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.
Holding the same asset on two exchanges — long on one and short on the other at the same time — so that the price move cancels out and you keep only the difference in funding rates — a delta-neutral pair of perpetual futures (perps). This page sets out the steps for actually putting that on, for example on BTC, ETH, SOL perps held on two of Binance, Bybit, OKX, Hyperliquid.
This page writes down the shape of the procedure and nothing more. How much to start with, at what level to open, how much leverage to use, where to take profit — none of that is written here. carryroom gives no investment advice and refers no one to exchanges for account opening.
What you need before you start
- Accounts at two exchanges — one alone cannot make the pair. Many of the exchanges carryroom compares are offshore exchanges, and depending on where you live you may not be able to open an account.
- Money on both sides — funds sit separately at each exchange. An unrealised gain on one leg cannot cover a margin shortfall on the other on the spot. You cannot keep it all on one side.
- A way to move money between the exchanges — you have to send it across when one side runs short. Transfers take time and cost money, and that cost is not in carryroom's figures.
- If you use the shape that borrows against spot, a margin account and a borrowing limit — these are the rows marked "spot margin" in the lists. On that side you receive no funding, and instead keep paying borrowing interest.
Whether identity verification (KYC) is required differs from one exchange to the next. See the kinds of exchange (decentralised or centralised).
Putting on a perp-against-perp pair
This is the shape listed on Sustained carry and Featured pairs.
- Choose the pair — open a row in the list and it shows which exchange to sell on and which to buy on. The same asset can go by a different name on each exchange, so check it against the name shown on the detail screen.
- Put the required margin on both exchanges — you cannot keep it all on one side.
- Sell on the exchange where funding is higher (short).
- Buy the same quantity on the lower one (long). If the quantities do not match, the price move is not cancelled out. Whatever quantity is left unmatched carries the price move in full.
- Check that both legs filled — with only one leg filled you are holding an unhedged position that takes the price move in full.
★One leg fills and the other does not — that is the most dangerous point in this shape. The thinner the book, the more readily it happens.
Buying spot and selling the perp
This is the shape listed on Yield hedge. Unlike perp against perp, the spot side earns interest and the perp side cancels out the price move.
- Buy the spot — put it into crypto lending or staking to receive interest.
- Sell the same quantity of the same asset's perpetual future — this is what cancels out the price move.
- Leave headroom in the margin on the perp side — when the price rises, the short perp goes into unrealised loss. Even if the spot side is up by the same amount, the margin is a separate account and cannot rescue it.
If the spot side is lent out, withdrawing it can involve a waiting period. It may not arrive in time when the perp side suddenly needs margin.
What to watch while you hold
- Realised funding, as actually paid and received — the exchange's history lists what you received and paid at each interval. If you are paying while you should be on the receiving side, the sign of the rate has changed.
- Margin headroom — the price move puts one side into unrealised loss. When the headroom shrinks, send funds to that exchange or cut both sides down.
- Whether the direction of the rates has swapped — stability in the lists is the share of the time the same exchange stayed on the higher side. How to read it.
- Whether the asset is about to be dropped — when an exchange ends a listing, that leg is closed for you and only the other one is left.
Closing
The premise is that you close both legs at once. Close only one and the leg left behind becomes an unhedged position that takes the price move in full. Cut the losing side, the way ordinary trading teaches, and the cancellation breaks.
In the shape where you buy spot and sell the perp, it is safer to buy back the short perp first and sell the spot second. The other order leaves a stretch of time in which the spot is already gone and only the short perp remains.
Closing has its own cost of getting in and out. "Round-trip cost" in the lists is a figure that includes both opening and closing.
Common mistakes, and how this loses money
When this shape loses, it is rarely because the price went the wrong way. It is almost always one of two things: the cancellation broke, or costs came to more than the receipts.
- Eaten by fees — close before the round-trip cost has been earned back and the receipts never reach it. How many days that takes is the Cost recovery figure (the break-even day) in the lists. Going in and out over short stretches is exactly this case. How the day count is worked out.
- Building it on a thin book — both opening and closing fill away from the price you expected. carryroom measures its cost estimate from the depth of the book, so the thinner the asset, the larger the cost it shows.
- One leg alone being liquidated — when the leveraged side goes first, what is left is a naked position carrying the full price move. Funds sit separately at each exchange, so an unrealised gain on the other leg cannot rescue it on the spot.
- Holding on after the gap reverses — when the exchange that paid more becomes the cheaper one, the receipt turns into a payment. Stability in the lists records how rarely that swap happened in the past; it does not say it will not happen next.
- Not matching the quantities — whatever is unmatched keeps carrying the price move.
- Leaving a position where only one leg filled — the thinner the book, the more it happens.
- Cutting the loss on one side only — the cancellation breaks. Do what an ordinary trade teaches, and cut the losing side, and the side left standing is naked.
- Keeping the margin on one side — an unrealised gain on one leg cannot fill a shortfall on the other.
- Not allowing for transfer time — sending funds only once a side has run short may not arrive in time.
Where this page stands
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. What is written above is the shape of the procedure, not a recommendation that you should do it. Disclaimer · What to watch out for.
Questions we are asked
The name on screen is not the name I can find on the exchange. Which one do I order under?
Place each order under that exchange's own name for the asset, not the name shown on this site.
carryroom lists everything under one common name, and only where that exchange spells it differently does it print the exchange's own name in small faint type next to the sell-side and buy-side exchange name (when the two match, nothing is printed). That small name is the one to search for on that exchange's screen.
Can I place both orders from this site? What happens if only one leg fills?
You cannot. carryroom places no orders, so you place each one yourself on each exchange's own screen.
So there is always a gap between the two fills. During that gap — and for as long as one side sits filled on its own — you are holding an unhedged position that takes the price move in full, and the thinner the order book, the more readily it happens. Confirming that both sides filled is part of the step, not something after it.
"The same quantity" — do I match the number of contracts, or the amount of money?
On the two exchanges, match the quantity — the number of contracts — rather than the amount of money.
Whatever is left unmatched is not cancelled out and takes the price move in full. Both sides are the same asset, though, so the price difference between the two exchanges is tiny — carryroom treats it as negligible against the swings of a few per cent that matter here — which means matching the quantity also matches the money put on each side, to within that difference. carryroom's leverage figures are likewise built on the assumption of the same amount on both sides.
How long should I hold it? How many days does it take to earn the cost back?
When to close is not written here; only a figure that gives you a number of days.
"Cost recovery" in the lists is how many days the difference received each day needs in order to repay the cost of opening and then closing — the "Round-trip cost" figure.
- It assumes the difference thins out to its 15-day average, so a row running high right now shows a longer figure.
- When it cannot be repaid, the cell says so: over a short holding period it does not pay off.
Margin at one of the exchanges is running down. Can I just top it up later?
Not necessarily in time — funds sit separately at each exchange and moving them takes time.
"Highest leverage without liquidation" in the lists is built on exactly that: taking money out of the exchange that is winning and putting it into the one that is losing takes half a day, and no extra margin can be sent during it. The figure asks whether the position would have withstood the worst adverse move within some 12-hour stretch of the last 30 days.
- It assumes the setting that keeps margin separate for each asset, which is the safe side.
- It is a record of what happened, not a limit; moves beyond it can ordinarily happen.
What happens if only one side gets liquidated?
The cancelling stops there, and what is left is a one-sided position taking the price move in full.
The buying side is liquidated when the price falls and the selling side when it rises, so the same move only ever threatens one of them — and the margin sits at two exchanges, so the profit piling up on the other side is not where it is needed. Moving it across takes about half a day, and no margin can be sent during it. That is what "Highest leverage without liquidation" in the lists measures: whether each side on its own would have withstood the worst adverse move inside some 12-hour stretch of the last 30 days. It is a record of what happened, not a limit. What to do once one side has gone is not written here.
- Until the remaining side is closed, the price move lands on it in full.
- It is the same shape as one exchange no longer carrying the asset, or ending its service: one side vanishes either way.
When does an arbitrage end up losing to the fees?
When you close before what you have received adds up to the cost of opening and closing.
The cost lands in one lump at each end while the difference arrives a little at each settlement, so the two are in a race — and the cost recovery figure is how many days that race takes at the current pace. The cost is estimated for an order of $10,000; the smaller your size, the heavier the fee share, so a small position takes longer than the figure says. Moving funds between the two exchanges, and tax, are in neither figure.
- Closed before the row's own "cost recovery" figure in days has passed: the cost is charged in full but only part of it has been earned back.
- The difference turned the other way while it was held: what you receive can go negative.
- Only one side filled, and the other was chased at a worse price.
When I open the two accounts, what is the difference between a CEX and a DEX?
A CEX and a DEX differ in what it takes to start trading, and in who holds your assets.
carryroom sorts the exchanges it shows by three things: whether connecting a wallet is enough to trade, whether identity verification is required, and whether your assets stay in your own hands. The judgement is made from each exchange's own technical documentation, not from how it describes itself. The two sides of a pair do not have to be the same kind. Which exchange is which is listed under "Kinds of exchange" on "Terms and how to read the numbers".
- Decentralised exchange (DEX): you can trade by connecting a wallet, and your assets stay in your own hands.
- Centralised exchange (CEX): opening an account and identity verification are required, and the exchange holds your assets.
- Hybrid: conditions differ from one exchange to the next — an account may be required while you still hold your own assets.
What does this strategy require before the first position?
Funding rate arbitrage needs two exchange accounts, and money on both at the same time.
The two sides are opened separately, one on each exchange, so neither account can be funded from the other while the position is on. Two things the numbers on this site cannot show: whether the difference you are looking at is still there in a week, and how it feels to hold two positions that each look wrong on their own.
Is this a delta-neutral strategy?
Yes — the two sides are the same size in opposite directions, so the price movement cancels and what is left is the difference in funding.
Delta is how much a position gains or loses when the price moves by one. Holding the same size long and short makes the two deltas cancel, so the pair neither gains nor loses from the price itself. That is what makes the funding difference readable as a return rather than noise. It does not make the pair riskless: the cancellation only holds while BOTH sides are open, so a liquidation, a delisting or a leg that fills late leaves you carrying the price move alone.