Guides and reference · Hyperliquid funding rates: who pays whom, and what whales pay
Guide 17 of 211 min read
Hyperliquid funding rates: who pays whom, and what whales pay
What funding is on Hyperliquid perpetuals, which side pays when, and how much the tracked whales pay or receive.
Good for: a market where one side crowds in, or a whale holding a position for weeks.
Say BTC longs pile up and the perpetual trades above the price it tracks. Funding is the payment that pulls it back: the crowded side pays the other. A perpetual has no expiry, so this payment is what keeps it close to its index price.
Who pays whom
When the rate is positive, longs pay shorts. When it is negative, shorts pay longs. Hyperliquid settles funding every hour on the position’s size, so a large position held for days pays or earns a real amount even at a small rate.
Where to see it
Each market page shows funding as bars around zero, under its open interest, with how much of it the tracked whales hold. The Whale Tide shows what directional whales pay or receive in a day at the rates of the last hour.
What funding won’t tell you
A high rate says one side is crowded, not that the price turns. It also leaves out what a position earns or pays on other exchanges.