Glossary
Funding rate
A recurring payment between holders of long and short perpetual positions that pulls the contract price toward spot. When it is positive, longs pay shorts.
Frequency is not universal. Eight hours is common but not a rule — dYdX charges hourly — and the rate itself moves with how one-sided positioning is. A position held through a period of high funding can bleed even if the price does not move.
See also
Perpetual futuresA derivative tracking an asset's price with no expiry date, kept close to spot by a periodic payment between longs and shorts called funding.
LongA position that gains when the price rises. Buying spot is a long position; so is a leveraged long, with the difference that the leveraged one can be closed against your will.
ShortA position that gains when the price falls. The loss on a short is not capped, because there is no ceiling on how high a price can go.
Last checked 19 Oct 2026.