Funding Rate Discrepancy

Definition

Funding rate discrepancy represents the variance between the periodic payment exchanged between long and short positions in a perpetual futures contract and the realized cost of capital within the underlying spot market. This divergence occurs when market demand for leverage forces the swap rate to deviate from the interest rate parity implied by the spot price. Traders monitor this gap to identify arbitrage opportunities where the convergence of derivative and spot pricing provides a risk-adjusted return.