Funding Rate Arbitrage: Live Scanner and Strategy Guide

A delta-neutral way to harvest the funding payments that perpetual futures traders pay each other. Watch live funding rates and cross-exchange spreads below, then learn exactly how the trade is built, priced, and risk-managed.

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Live funding rate scanner

Funding rates across major perpetual venues, shown as the raw per-interval rate and the annualized rate (APR) if it held steady. Positive funding means longs pay shorts, so a positive rate rewards a short-perp position hedged with long spot. Click any column header to sort.

BJF Funding Scanner
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Symbol	Binance	Bybit	OKX	Best APR	X-exch spread	Delta-neutral setup

Rates shown per 8h interval unless the venue uses a different schedule. APR assumes the current rate persists (it will not). Data is cached and refreshed every few minutes. This tool is for research and education, not investment advice.

What is funding rate arbitrage?

Funding rate arbitrage is a delta-neutral strategy that collects the periodic funding payment exchanged between long and short holders of a perpetual futures contract, while holding an offsetting position so the trader carries little or no directional price risk. The classic structure is long spot and short the perpetual when funding is positive, so the price exposure cancels and the funding accrues as the return.

Perpetual futures have no expiry, so exchanges use a funding mechanism to keep the perpetual price tethered to spot. When the perpetual trades above spot, funding is positive and longs pay shorts. When it trades below spot, funding is negative and shorts pay longs. A trader who is short the perpetual and long the spot of the same asset is flat on price but on the receiving side of positive funding. That funding stream, not a price move, is the edge.

The two main structures

1. Cash-and-carry (single exchange)

Long spot, short the perpetual of the same asset on the same venue. Fully delta-neutral. You receive funding whenever it is positive. Simplest to run, but the return is capped at that one venue’s funding rate, and you pay two sets of fees plus the perpetual’s borrow if any.

Best when: one asset shows persistently high positive funding and spot is easy to hold.

2. Cross-exchange funding spread

Long the perpetual where funding is low or negative, short the perpetual where funding is high, same underlying. Still delta-neutral (long one perp, short another), and you capture the difference between the two funding rates rather than one absolute rate.

Best when: the same asset funds very differently across venues, which the scanner above surfaces as X-exch spread.

How the return is calculated

Funding is quoted per interval (commonly every 8 hours, so three times a day). To compare opportunities you annualize it:

# Annualized funding (APR), single venue, cash-and-carry
intervals_per_day = 24 / funding_interval_hours   # e.g. 24 / 8 = 3
APR = funding_rate * intervals_per_day * 365

# Example: funding_rate = 0.01% per 8h
# APR = 0.0001 * 3 * 365 = 0.1095  ->  10.95% per year, before fees

# Net edge after costs
net_APR = APR - (round_trip_fees_annualized + spot_borrow + slippage)

The headline APR is almost never the realized return. Funding changes every interval, spreads and fees eat into it, and a rate that looks like 40% APR today can flip negative tomorrow. Treat APR as a ranking signal, not a promise.

How to read the scanner

Each row is one asset. The venue columns show the current funding rate on that exchange. Best APR annualizes the most favorable single-venue rate for a cash-and-carry setup. X-exch spread is the gap between the highest and lowest venue funding for that asset, which is what a cross-exchange spread trade would capture. The setup column names the delta-neutral construction implied by the current numbers: short the high-funding leg, long the low-funding leg.

Risks you must price in

Funding rate arbitrage is often described as low risk because it is delta-neutral. It is not risk-free, and the failure modes are specific:

Risk	What happens	Mitigation
Funding flip	The rate turns against you before you exit, so you start paying instead of receiving.	Size for the whole holding window, monitor and unwind quickly.
Fees and slippage	Two round trips (spot and perp, or two perps) can exceed a thin funding edge.	Compute net APR after all fees before entering, skip thin spreads.
Liquidation on the short leg	A sharp rally can liquidate an under-margined perpetual short even though you are hedged.	Hold ample margin buffer, rebalance legs as price moves.
Exchange and counterparty	Withdrawal freeze, outage, or insolvency on one venue breaks the hedge.	Diversify venues, cap exposure per exchange.
Execution latency	Legs fill at different prices, opening unintended directional risk at entry.	Use fast, near-simultaneous execution across legs.

How it compares to other arbitrage strategies

Strategy	Edge source	Directional risk	Typical holding
Funding rate arbitrage	Perpetual funding payments	Delta-neutral	Hours to weeks
Spatial crypto arbitrage	Price gap between exchanges	Neutral, but transfer risk	Seconds to minutes
Latency arbitrage	Speed of price feed	Very short directional	Milliseconds
Cash-and-carry (basis)	Spot vs dated futures basis	Delta-neutral	Until expiry

Funding arbitrage sits closest to cash-and-carry, and the two combine well as a single delta-neutral yield program. If you are newer to the space, start with how crypto arbitrage works and the free crypto arbitrage scanner.

Frequently asked questions

Is funding rate arbitrage profitable?

It can produce a steady delta-neutral return when funding is persistently positive and the annualized rate comfortably exceeds all fees, borrow, and slippage. Returns are modest and variable, not guaranteed, and disappear when funding compresses or flips.

How much capital do I need?

Because the edge per interval is small and fixed costs are proportionally heavier on tiny positions, most practitioners consider a few thousand dollars a practical floor, and larger balances absorb fees and maintain hedges more efficiently.

Is it really risk-free?

No. It removes directional price risk but keeps funding-flip risk, liquidation risk on the short leg, exchange and counterparty risk, and execution risk. It is better described as market-neutral, not risk-free.

How often does funding get paid?

Most major venues settle funding every 8 hours, so three times per day, though some assets and exchanges use 4-hour or 1-hour intervals. The scanner annualizes using the venue’s interval where known.

What is the difference between funding arbitrage and basis trading?

Funding arbitrage captures the recurring funding payment on a perpetual with no expiry. Basis trading captures the price gap between spot and a dated futures contract that converges at expiry. Both are delta-neutral carry trades and are often run together.

Run delta-neutral strategies with BJF tools

BJF Trading Group builds arbitrage and execution software for traders who care about the edge that survives fees and slippage. Explore our crypto arbitrage suite or start with the free scanner.

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