Perp DEX With the Best Funding Rates (2026)

What funding rates are and why they matter more than fees

A trading fee is paid once, on open and on close. Funding is paid continuously, every hour (or every eight hours on some venues), for the entire duration a position is open. On a popular long-biased market during a bull run, funding on a BTC long can run 0.01-0.05% per hour. Eight hours at 0.03% on a $10,000 position costs $24 in funding — more than a full round-trip taker fee at any venue in PerpFinder's tracked set.

The best-funding-rates ranking uses liquidity score rather than a point-in-time funding rate. Funding rates change hourly, and any snapshot is stale within minutes. Liquidity score is a better proxy for persistent funding rate quality — venues with deeper liquidity see tighter funding spreads because there is more capital available to arbitrage long/short imbalances back toward zero.

Hyperliquid bases funding on the gap between its mark price and oracle references. dYdX uses its own market-specific funding process. GMX uses funding and borrowing charges in its pool model. Compare the same market and timestamp because a venue-wide liquidity score does not predict the next funding payment.

GMX's borrow fee model vs traditional funding

GMX V2 has variable borrowing and funding costs. Borrowing depends on the use of pool liquidity. Funding depends on the long-short balance for the selected market. Hyperliquid uses a different funding process tied to its mark and oracle references. Compare the same market, direction, size, and timestamp because each rate can change.

PerpFinder tracks live funding rates for all venues with the funding-rates tool. Check live rates before sizing a multi-day position; they are more useful than the liquidity-based funding ranking alone.

Worked funding cost example

A $50,000 BTC long, held for 7 days, at different funding scenarios:

- Neutral market (0.005%/hr): $50,000 × 0.005% × 168 hours = $420 - Bullish market (0.02%/hr): $50,000 × 0.02% × 168 hours = $1,680 - Peak bull (0.05%/hr): $50,000 × 0.05% × 168 hours = $4,200

At peak bull funding, a week-long hold costs more in funding than a full year of taker fees at 4.5 bps. This is why funding rate management matters more than fee optimization for position traders. A venue with 0 bps taker fees but consistently high funding is more expensive to use than a venue with 5 bps taker fees and tight funding.

Pick high-liquidity venues if...

You hold positions for more than 24 hours. Taker fees are fixed and paid once. Funding accumulates as long as the position is open. The deeper the venue's liquidity, the more arbitrage capital exists to keep funding near zero. Hyperliquid and dYdX are the best choices for multi-day position holders based on this logic.

You want to be on the receiving side of funding. If market sentiment is heavily one-sided and you want to take the minority position, high-liquidity venues pay more reliable funding income because the imbalance is real and the counterparty flow is genuinely there.

Skip this page if...

You scalp or day-trade. Funding on a 30-minute position is economically irrelevant — a single tick of price movement dwarfs the hourly funding cost. Optimize for taker fees and execution quality instead. The low-fees page and full perp listing are better starting points.