Perpetual Futures are a type of Futures contract that have no expiration date and have an auto-rolling feature every hour. These contracts feature a funding rate, which is a user-to-user payment designed to keep the price of the perpetual futures contract aligned to its underlying asset’s index price (i.e. the spot price of the underlying asset). If the premium is above zero, then the long positions payout to short positions, and if the premium is below zero, then the short positions pay out to the long positions. Traders will either pay or receive funding depending on the market movements. The price divergence is calculated every hour and funding credits/debits accumulate as unrealised profit/loss settling at the end of each hour or when the net position changes.
Below you can find three sections: a detailed table with the specifications of each contract, funding rate and other important information followed by multiple examples to demonstrate the mechanics of a perpetual contract. All single-collateral inverse futures use individualised margin wallets for the contract's respective underlying asset. For single-collateral inverse futures, profit/loss and funding are realised in the base currency.
Contract Specifications Table
Symbol
Status
Base Currency
Quote Currency
Contract Size & Minimum Order
Tick Size
Price quotation
Max Position Size
Impact Mid
Maximum Leverage
PI_XBTUSD*
Active
Bitcoin (BTC)
U.S. Dollar (USD)
1 USD
0.5
USD per 1 BTC
75,000,000 USD
1,000 USD
50x
PI_ETHUSD
Active
Ethereum (ETH)
U.S. Dollar (USD)
1 USD
0.1
USD per 1 ETH
45,000,000 USD
1,000 USD
50x
PI_LTCUSD
Active
Litecoin (LTC)
U.S. Dollar (USD)
1 USD
0.01
USD per 1 LTC
6,000,000 USD
1,000 USD
50x
PI_BCHUSD
Active
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
U.S. Dollar (USD)
1 USD
0.1
USD per 1 BCH
10,000,000 USD
1,000 USD
25x
PI_XRPUSD
Active
Ripple (XRP)
U.S. Dollar (USD)
1 USD
0.0001
USD per 1 XRP
3,000,000 USD
1,000 USD
10x
*BTC is used on the platform UI. XBT is used on the API and account logs. Both refer to Bitcoin (BTC).
Funding Rate and Other Important Information
Funding Rate Change, September 2022
To view the old funding rate methodology please see this page.
Additional Information
PnL Settlement Method
Inverse futures are cash-settled in base currency
Auto-Roll Period
Every 1 hour at the end of the hour
Rate-setting Calculation Window
Rate for next period is calculated over current 1-hour period (e.g., rate for 12-13 UTC period is calculated in window between 11-12 UTC)
Funding Rate
Between start and end of the Rate-setting Period the Funding Rate is computed as the time-weighted average premium, and standardised to a per-hour basis. Permissible range per 1 hours: [-0.25%, +0.25%] (i.e., 600 basis point magnitude for 24-hour realisation period)
Payout Frequency
Continuously based on Funding Rate set at the end of the prior Funding Period. Positions will immediately and continuously receive or send funding while open in the perpetual contracts. The funding accumulates as unrealised profit/loss and settles every 1 hour at end of the Funding Period, or when user changes net open position (whichever occurs first).
Funding Rate Multiplier
n = 24 This is the coefficient used in the calculation of the funding rate. A value of 1/n means that, ceteris paribus, it will take n hours to realise the Average Premium. Example: if the Average Premium is 0.36% for the 1-hour period, then Funding Rate is equal to 0.015%, meaning that over the course of 24 hours, this 0.36% total will be realised.
Funding Rate Calculation
In a given 1-hour Funding Period, Premium values calculated from minutely perpetual contract prices (60 observations) using an Impact Mid are recorded versus the Real Time Platform Ticker. The Impact Mid is the median of the average entry price market-selling x value of contracts and market-buying x value of contracts. See table above for contract-specific values. The Average Premium is calculated as the average of the mid 30 values recorded from the above 60 observations. Finally, this value is weighted by the Funding Rate Multiplier. If Average Premium is greater than 0 for the 1 hour period, those in Long positions will continuously pay out to Short positions, which pushes the price closer to Index. If Average Premium is less than 0 for the 1 hour period, those in Short positions will continuously pay out to Long positions, which pushes the price closer to Index.
Kraken Futures uses a maker-taker fee structure. Fees are calculated as a percentage of the notional order value for a matched trade. No fees are charged on auto-roll or funding payouts -- these occur strictly between counter-parties.
Contract Expiration
The perpetual futures are non-expiring, which means that positions in the contract are never “expired” or “matured”, however there is a settlement process every hour that applies funding to anchor the spot value to the Index. See Last Trading for more information.
Settlement time
Every 1 hour at the end of the hour: The accumulated unrealised funding is settled and new rate set based on TWAP premium to index in prior rate period.
Last Trading
This contract remains trading perpetually and would only expire in an emergency situation if the market venue deems necessary to settle/expire the contract. This would only occur in exigent circumstances if the Market Risk Committee deemed it necessary to facilitate a fair and orderly market. The market venue reserves the right to set the contract to post-only, suspended, or settle the contract at any time and without warning due to either adverse market conditions or regulatory risk.
Index Price plus the 30 seconds exponential moving average of the order book mid price minus the index price (future's basis). The premium for perpetual contracts is capped at 1%. Calculation: Index Price + EMA_30seconds(Impact Mid Price - Index Price) Note: in the extremely rare circumstance that the Index Price is unavailable for whatever reason, the above caps may not apply and the Mark Price will be equal to the Impact Mid Price.
Margin & Settlement Currency
Base currency (e.g. PI_ETHUSD realises PnL in ETH)
The funding rate for a given perpetual contract is represented in two different ways:
absolute rate: The amount of funding an account will receive by maintaining a 1 contract unit short position for 1 hour. This is more useful for account log purposes.
absolute funding payout = # of contracts * absolute funding rate * time elapsed within funding period without position alteration
relative rate: The absolute funding rate relative to the spot price at the time of funding rate calculation. This is an intermediate value in the calculation of the absolute funding rate and is the number we display in the front end (as a %) as the 'funding rate'.
relative funding payout = # of contracts * (relative funding rate/spot price) * time elapsed within funding period without position alteration
Funding Rate Examples
Examples
In order to get a complete understanding of the rate dynamics of the Perpetual Contract, we present examples to demonstrate the key features. Click the example titles below to expand:
Example Funding Rate 1: (24-hour rate realisation length)
Assume time is 12 UTC and that price of BTC is $7,000 (via realtime index) and the Perpetual trades at $7,010 the whole time until 13 UTC. The average premium is computed as 0.1428% for the 1-hour period ($10/$7,000). This leads to a funding rate of 0.1428 / 24 = 0.01785% per hour.
Now assume that you are in a short position of 100,000 Contracts. If you hold this position from 13 to 14 UTC and the premium in 13-14 UTC period remains as 0.1428%, then you will earn interest of $17.85 for the one-hour period ($100,000*0.0001785) in BTC terms, so $17.85/$7,000 = 0.00255 BTC.
Example Funding Rate 2: Maximum rate)
Assume time is 12 UTC and that price of BTC is $7,000 and the Perpetual trades at $7,500 until 13 UTC. The average premium is computed as 7.142% for the 1-hour period. This leads to a funding rate of 7.142 / 24 = 0.2975% per hour.
The maximum funding rate per hour in any given period is 0.25%. The minimum is -0.25%.
As a result, this 0.2975% hourly rate is floored to 0.25% per hour, so that the maximum 24-hour realisation will not exceed 6%.
Note that there is no "dampening" of rates done in this model: if a four-hour computed rate is near 0, then it will stay pay out non-0 value even if it is de minimis.
Example Funding Rate 3:(Absolute vs. relative rate)
Assume time is 12 UTC and that the real-time index price of BTCUSD is $7,000 and the relative rate set for the one-hour period is 0.05% per hour.
Now assume the time is 13 UTC and the Perpetual trades at $8,000 and you enter a Short position of 125,000 contracts at this price.
You will immediately begin receiving funding at an absolute rate of 0.05%/$7,000 = 0.000007142% per hour per contract unit.
In your account log you will then see this rate applying in your unrealised PnL through continuous funding payout equal to:
0.00000007142 * 125,000 = 0.008928 BTC per hour
0.00000248 BTC per second
This will pay out continuously until 14 UTC where the relative funding rate will change based on the market activity between 13-14 UTC.
Assume this new relative funding rate is now 0.03% and the real-time spot index is $7,900 for BTCUSD at 14 UTC.
In your 125,000 Contract short position at the end of the 1 hour period you will have 0.008928 BTC applied in your account log at 14 UTC.
From 14 UTC to 15 UTC a new absolute funding rate will begin applying of 0.03%/$7,900=0.000003797% per hour per contract unit.
Example Funding Rate 4: (Multiple-period rate)
Assume time is 14 UTC and you enter a position long 200,000 Contracts on BTCUSD at $7,000. Assume that the funding rate for the one-hour period (13-14 UTC) is set as -0.04% per hour.
At 15 UTC, after you have held this position for one full hour, you will have earned $80 per hour (0.0004*$200,000). This is $80/$7,000 = 0.0114 BTC, which credits continuously throughout the one hour period you hold it.
However, during this period, the price was at a premium and so the new one-hour rate set for 14 - 15 UTC is 0.04% per hour. After one hour of holding the position, you have paid 0.0114 BTC and you close at 16 UTC, two hours after opening the position.
Your funding for the two hours you held the position is thus 0.0114 BTC for the first period then -0.0114 BTC for the first period and your net flows are 0 for this.
Example Funding Rate 5: (Booking of unrealised funding)
Assume it's 12 UTC you are in a 250,000 Contract long position on BTCUSD with realtime index at $7,000 and the rate in the funding period is -0.05%. This earns you funding of:
0.0005 * 250,000 = $125
$125/$7,000=0.01785 BTC per hour
0.0002976 BTC per minute
0.00000496 BTC per second
0.00000000496 BTC per millisecond
This credits and debits every millisecond to every user with an open position. It credits first as unrealised profit and loss, but you have the funds available right away to use in further positions or transfer into your Cash account.
The funding is booked into your account log and realised when one of the following events occur:
1
You adjust your open position up or down by any amount
2
You hold until the end of the Funding Period, at which point it is booked (occurs at the end of every hour)
The decimal and thousands separators shown in this article may differ from the formats displayed on our trading platforms. Review our article on how we use points and commas for more information.
