What the BTC funding rate is
A perpetual future never expires, so something has to tie it to the spot price. That something is funding: a periodic payment between the two sides. When the BTC perp trades above spot, funding turns positive and longs pay shorts. Below spot, it turns negative and shorts pay longs. Persistently high positive funding means longs are crowded and paying to stay in.
Bitcoin's perpetual futures carry more open interest than any other coin's, so BTC liquidations, funding and open interest tend to set the tone for the rest of the market. It is one of the two coins, with ETH, where Markov also models options dealer gamma.
How Markov reads BTC funding
Hyperliquid settles funding every hour. The live number is Hyperliquid's estimate for the current hour, pushed about once a second. Markov sets it against the last 7 days of hourly settlements: their median, and where this hour sits among them as a percentile.
Hyperliquid's formula includes a fixed interest component of 0.00125% an hour (0.01% per 8 hours), so a calm market reads slightly positive rather than zero.
The annualized figure is the hourly rate × 24 × 365: a straight-line estimate that assumes the current rate holds. It is arithmetic, not a forecast of what holding a position will earn or cost.
One venue, said plainly
Funding differs by venue. This page uses Hyperliquid's BTC funding, and so does the free chart's Now panel: this hour's rate, time to settle, 7-day percentile and APR. Its funding pane, a bar per hourly settlement, is on Pro. The free Derivatives tool ranks Binance funding across the major perps, falling back to Hyperliquid where Binance is refused and saying so. Rates from different venues are never mixed into one number.
How to read it
Funding says who is paying to hold their side, not who is right. Extreme BTC funding can last for days, and a flip in sign says positioning changed, not that price will. Read it with open interest: rising open interest with rising positive funding means new longs are piling in and paying for it.
Defined in the glossary: funding rate, perpetual futures (perps). The methodology says how every number is made, with its limits. Markov provides research tools and education, not financial advice.