How to calculate it
Funding is charged on the full notional value of the position, not on the margin you posted. At 10x, a 0.01% rate is 0.1% of your margin every interval.
Worked through with real numbers
A $50,000 BTC perp long, risking $500 (1R) to the stop, held for 6 days:
At a calm rate, funding is a small drag. In a crowded long market it can cost nearly a full unit of risk on a swing trade, turning a +1R winner into a scratch. Shorts on the other side of that market collect the same amount.
Where traders get it wrong
- Ignoring it on swing holds. Over days it compounds into a real share of your R.
- Calculating on margin. It is charged on notional.
- Assuming the rate is fixed. It changes every interval with market positioning.
Tracking it in your journal
When you log crypto trades manually, the journal can cost them with funding included: the perp futures preset uses 0.055% per side plus 0.01% funding per 8 hours, and a custom setting takes your own fee per side and funding % per 8 hours. Longs pay the funding, shorts receive it.
See your own Funding Rate from real trades
Every figure on this page is more useful when it is yours. The free journal works it out from the trades you log or sync.
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