Price range shown (reference price ±): ±1% ±2% ±5% ±10% All ⓘ
Questions we are asked
How current are the figures on this page, and how often do they change?
The figures reach the page a few minutes after the exchanges.
The newest time included is shown at the bottom as "Last updated". If no new value arrives for 12 minutes, a delay banner appears at the top and asks you to treat the featured pair as reference only.
- Fetch: from the exchanges about once a minute
- Write: one more step, about every three minutes, before the page can read them
- The record of funding actually exchanged, used to decide what gets listed: the last 30 days
Nothing is featured today and the list is empty. Is something broken?
Nothing is broken — when no combination meets the conditions, the page leaves the ranking empty instead of filling it in.
It then says there is no chance to get in and out within two days, and names which of the three below the candidates ran into (the counts per reason appear only when at least a featured pair is present, so a fully empty day shows none). Separately, before those three are applied, a market whose open interest does not reach the floor is dropped on either exchange's side, before any pair is formed at all; the floor amount is printed at the bottom of the page. Candidates meant to be held for days or longer are listed on Sustained carry.
- Nothing is left once costs are taken out
- The direction is not clear
- The gain is buried in the day-to-day swings
How is "The research model's pick" at the top different from the list below?
The list below is this site's own ranking from current values and the funding actually exchanged, while the top pick is a research model's prediction.
The model is built on the funding actually exchanged over the past three months, predicts the net carry if the position were held for seven days (three days when there is no seven-day prediction), and is recomputed every day. Nothing is actually traded and the record is kept on paper, so it is reference information, not investment advice. On a day when any of the conditions below fail, the page says "Model standing by".
- The prediction lands in the top tenth and is positive
- It clears the same three conditions as the list
- The direction has not turned the other way recently
- The open interest floor is met
How many rows can the list hold, and what decides the order?
The list holds at most 8 rows, ordered by net carry after costs, largest first.
Usually the featured pair at the top is also the list's number one, so the total is 8; only when "The research model's pick" brings in a combination that is not in the list does the total reach 9 (rows run up to #9). Candidates are taken from the top 16, and the first 8 that clear the conditions fill the list.
- First: the pair's net carry after costs — six funding payments, about two days on an exchange that settles every 8 hours
- Ties: the larger net spread per 8 hours
- Ties there: by asset name
Can I see the other exchange-to-exchange combinations for the same asset?
This list shows only one combination per asset; the others are on Sustained carry.
When the same asset is quoted on three or more exchanges, it picks the sell side and buy side that leave the largest take per 8 hours. Sustained carry lists a separate row for each pair of exchanges on the same asset, but it applies its own conditions on how long the record is and how stable it has been, so some combinations do not appear there either. The exception is "The research model's pick", which rebuilds exactly the exchange combination the model chose, so it can be a combination that is not in this list.
What do the row marks "Direction flipped recently" and "Realised and current disagree" mean?
Both mark a disagreement between the current rate and what has actually been paid and received.
They are shown on the list itself so that you do not first learn of it after opening the detail page.
- "Direction flipped recently": the spread per 8 hours is positive right now, while the funding actually exchanged over the last 3 days adds up to a negative
- "Realised and current disagree": the cumulative total over the last 30 days is sloping down (negative once converted to an annual rate)