Funding fee mechanism
At OKX, our perpetual futures adopt a funding fee mechanism designed to align the market price of the perpetual market with the index price.
Calculating the funding fee
Settling the funding fee
When the funding rate is positive, traders with long positions pay traders with short positions; conversely, when the funding rate is negative, traders with short positions pay traders with long positions. Please note, our platform only facilitates the exchange of funds between traders of long and short positions, and does not charge any service fees under this mechanism.The funding fee is settled every 8 hours, coinciding with daily settlements scheduled at 12:00 am, 8:00 am, and 4:00 pm UTC. The actual fee assessment might span a minute. For each contract, settlement completes at a millisecond level and trading is not interrupted. Traders are obligated to pay or receive the funding fee solely when they hold open positions. If you close your position before the funding fee assessment, you are exempt from paying or collecting the fee. Additionally, if a contract is delisted prior to settlement, the current cycle’s funding fee becomes void.The funding fee settlement timing may be adjusted in real time according to market conditions.
Funding fee formula
Funding fee = Position value × Funding rate of this cycle
For USDT-margined contracts: Position value = Mark price × Number of contracts × Contract size × Contract multiplier
For crypto-margined contracts: Position value = Number of contracts × Contract size × Contract multiplier / Mark price
Funding rate
Predicting the funding rate
Funding rate = Clamp[MA( Premium index – Interest rate), a, b]
Current interest rate is zero.
Premium index = [(Best bid + Best offer) / 2 – Spot index price] / Spot index price
MA, also known as the moving average, refers to the average value of the premium index from the start to the end of this funding fee cycle.
For example: MA(Premium index at Tn) = (Premium index at T1 + Premium index at T2 + ... + Premium index at Tn) / n. The funding rate is updated every minute. If the current funding fee cycle is from 12:00 am to 8:00 am, then this cycle’s funding rate is calculated using the premium index of every minute within the 12:00 am to 7:59 am time period. In other words, n = 480.
Variables a and b are the upper and lower limits for the funding rate. For more information, please refer to https://www.okx.com/trade-market/funding/swap.
Funding fee for the current cycle
Our platform currently has two types of funding fee settlement rules: cross-cycle settlement and current-cycle settlement (effective from January 4, 2024, for some of the adjusted perpetual futures). For futures contracts that follow current-cycle settlement, their funding rate is shown with a lightning symbol.
The main difference between the two settlement rules is how the funding rates are determined.
Current-cycle settlement | Cross-cycle settlement | |
How are funding rates determined | Current cycle’s funding rate is calculated based on this cycle’s premium index. The funding rate used to calculate the funding fee is taken at the moment when this cycle ends. For example If the funding fee is settled at 4:00 pm, this cycle’s funding rate is calculated based on the premium index of the current cycle (8:00 am to 3:59 pm). The funding fee is settled using the funding rate of 3:59 pm. | Current cycle’s funding rate is calculated based on the previous cycle’s premium index. The funding rate used to calculate the funding fee is taken at the moment when the previous cycle ended. It stays consistent throughout this cycle. For example If the funding fee is settled at 4:00 pm, this cycle’s funding rate is calculated based on the premium index of the previous cycle (12:00 am to 7:59 am). The funding fee is settled using the funding rate of 7:59 am. |
Scope | 8:00 am UTC, January 4, 2024 USDT-margined perpetual futures: FLOWUSDT 8:00 am UTC, January 10, 2024 USDT-margined perpetual futures: SOLUSDT, TRBUSDT, XRPUSDT, BCHUSDT, WLDUSDT Please refer to our announcement for details. OKX to change funding fee collection mechanism for some contracts | Other perpetual futures |
Funding fee for different margin modes
Single-currency cross margin mode: The fee is deducted directly from the available equity of the single currency account. If equity is insufficient, pending orders that will use more margin will be canceled, including spot orders and orders to open positions in isolated and cross margin modes. The maximum funding fee is capped when your free margin equals the sum of maintenance margin and liquidation fee.
Multi-currency and porfolio margin cross margin mode: The fee is deducted from the adjusted equity of the multi-currency account. If equity is insufficient, pending orders that might reduce the adjusted equity will be canceled, including spot orders and orders to open positions in isolated margin mode. The maximum funding fee is capped when your free margin equals the sum of maintenance margin and liquidation fee.
Isolated margin mode: The fee is first deducted from the transferable balance of your cross margin account. If auto borrow is turned on for the cross margin positions, the borrowed crypto will count toward the transferable balance. If the transferable balance is insufficient, orders to open positions in isolated margin mode for this instrument will be canceled. Funding fees will then be deducted from the margin of your isolated positions. The maximum funding fee is capped when your free margin equals the sum of maintenance margin and liquidation fee.
The actual funding fee a trader can receive is determined by the amount of funding fees the system can collect from the counterparty. If you hold multiple perpetual futures positions subject to the funding fee mechanism, fee deduction happens following a specific order of crypto pairs. The maximum funding fee is capped when your free margin equals the sum of maintenance margin and liquidation fee.