A Polymarket Perps position costs money in two main ways: a trading fee when you open and close, and a funding payment every hour you hold it. Funding can also pay you, depending on which side you are on. This page explains how the hourly rate is set, which price it is measured against, what the fees are, and what a position really costs to hold for a day, a week or a month, with the arithmetic shown.
The short version
- Funding is hourly, settled on the hour, 24/7, including weekends for stocks and indices.
- Positive rate: longs pay shorts. Negative rate: shorts pay longs. Polymarket takes no cut.
- Cap: plus or minus 4% per hour. When the book is balanced, the rate sits at 0.00125% per hour for crypto and 0.000625% for everything else.
- Fees: 0.040% taker and 0.0125% maker at the base tier. Makers get a rebate only above $1B of 30-day volume. ANT pays half.
- Both are charged on notional, not on margin, so leverage multiplies them relative to your money.
Key numbers (as of November 2026)
From Polymarket's docs and API on 6 November 2026. These can change, so check the market page before you trade.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Funding interval | 1 hour, settled at the end of each hour (UTC) |
| Funding cap | ±4% per hour |
| Rate when the book is balanced | 0.00125% per hour (crypto), 0.000625% per hour (stocks, indices, commodities, pre-IPO) |
| Polymarket's share of funding | None. It is a direct transfer between traders |
| Weekends | Funding runs 24/7 on every market |
| Taker / maker fee, base tier | 0.040% / 0.0125% |
| Maker rebate | Only at $1B+ 30-day volume: -0.005% |
| ANT (Anthropic) fees | Half: 0.020% taker / 0.00625% maker at the base tier |
| Builder fee (third-party apps) | Up to 0.10% extra, only if you approve it |
| Liquidation fee | Extra 0.5% of notional per liquidation fill |
Mark price, oracle price and last price
Every Perps market shows more than one price. They do different jobs.
The Overview strip under every chart: Mark and Oracle side by side, the current hourly funding rate and the countdown to the next payment. Negative funding (here -0.0016%) means shorts pay longs.
| Price | What it is | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Index price (shown as "Oracle") | Polymarket's estimate of the real asset's fair value. A weighted average of outside feeds (Pyth, Chainlink Data Streams, Hyperliquid), with stale and outlier prices dropped. Updated every 200 ms. | The anchor for funding |
| Mark price | The median of three values: the index plus a smoothed (150-second) book premium, the median of best bid, best ask and a recent trade, and a separate set of outside mark feeds. Updated every 200 ms. | PnL, margin, liquidation, take-profit and stop-loss triggers |
| Last traded price | The latest fill on Polymarket's book | Execution only, not margin |
The mark price is built so that no single input can move it alone. If the book or the outside feeds fail, each part falls back to the index. Which feed is used for which asset is not published.
For stocks, indices and commodities, the feed set changes by session: regular hours, overnight, weekend, disrupted or halted. Sessions change only the feeds. Funding, margin, matching and liquidation run the same way around the clock.
How the funding rate is calculated
- Every 5 seconds, the system measures the premium: how far the book is from the index. It works out the average price to fill 1,000 pUSD on the bid side and on the ask side, and compares them with the index. A thin side falls back to the index and counts as zero.
- Over the hour, the samples are averaged (mean_P).
- At the end of the hour, the average goes through an 8-hour formula, is divided by 8 and is capped:
F_8h = scale × (mean_P + clamp(0.0001 - mean_P, ±0.0005))
FR_hour = clamp(F_8h / 8, ±0.04)
scale = 1.0 for crypto, 0.5 for all other marketsThe 0.0001 is a fixed interest part of 0.01% per 8 hours. Because of the clamp, any average premium between -0.04% and +0.06% gives exactly the base rate:
- Crypto: 1.0 × 0.0001 / 8 = 0.0000125 = 0.00125% per hour
- Other markets: 0.5 × 0.0001 / 8 = 0.00000625 = 0.000625% per hour
These are the rates most markets showed on 6 November 2026. Outside that band, the rate follows the premium:
| Average premium over the hour | Crypto rate per hour | Other markets per hour |
|---|---|---|
| -0.04% to +0.06% | +0.00125% | +0.000625% |
| +0.10% (perp above index) | 1.0 × (0.0010 - 0.0005) / 8 = +0.00625% | 0.5 × 0.0005 / 8 = +0.003125% |
| -0.20% (perp below index) | 1.0 × (-0.0020 + 0.0005) / 8 = -0.01875% | 0.5 × (-0.0015) / 8 = -0.009375% |
The 4% cap is a safety limit. A crypto market would need an average premium of about 32% for a whole hour to reach it, and other markets about 64%. Polymarket can also set a per-market funding multiplier. None was set as of November 2026.
Between settlements, Polymarket publishes the rolling premium and the implied rate, so you can watch funding build up during the hour.
Who pays whom, and when
| Hourly rate | Meaning | Longs | Shorts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | Perp trades above the index | Pay | Receive |
| Negative | Perp trades below the index | Receive | Pay |
At the end of each hour, every open position settles a payment proportional to its size and the hourly rate:
Funding payment ≈ position notional × hourly rateThe docs do not say which price sets the notional. Our examples use the current price. Payments are credited to or debited from your pUSD balance and are listed under Funding in your Perps portfolio, separate from trading PnL. The docs do not say whether a position opened during the hour pays a reduced amount.
Funding paid lowers your equity, so it moves your liquidation price closer. Funding received moves it away. See the leverage and liquidation guide for the formulas.
Worked funding costs over a day, a week and a month
Hours used: 1 day = 24, 1 week = 168, 30 days = 720.
| Position | Rate per hour | 1 hour | 1 day | 1 week | 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 BTC long, base rate | 0.00125% | $0.125 | $3.00 | $21.00 | $90.00 |
| $10,000 USA500 long, base rate | 0.000625% | $0.0625 | $1.50 | $10.50 | $45.00 |
Arithmetic for BTC: $10,000 × 0.0000125 = $0.125 per hour. × 24 = $3.00. × 168 = $21.00. × 720 = $90.00. Over a year the base rate adds up to 0.00125% × 8,760 hours = 10.95% of notional for crypto and 5.475% for other markets. A short on the base rate receives these amounts instead of paying them.
Now compare with your margin. If the $10,000 BTC long is $1,000 of margin at 10x, the $90 for 30 days is 9% of your margin, even if the price does not move.
Example: when funding gets large
On 6 November 2026 at about 18:00 UTC, SAMSUNG showed -0.03964% per hour. This was a one-time reading. Rates change every hour.
A $5,000 short pays $5,000 × 0.0003964 = $1.982 per hour. If the rate stayed there: × 24 = $47.57 per day, × 168 = $332.98 per week. The long side would receive the same amounts.
Now say that short is $500 of margin at 10x, entry $100 (an example price), so maintenance margin is $5,000 × 5% = $250. With the price flat, equity falls from $500 to $250 after $250 / $1.982 = about 126 hours, or 5.3 days. Funding alone would liquidate it.
Other large readings in the same snapshot: SKHYNIX -0.03181%, BRENTOIL -0.02553%, PRL +0.02224% per hour.
Trading fees
Fee = |price × quantity| × rate, paid in pUSD on every fill. The tier depends on your trailing 30-day Perps volume and is updated every UTC day. A taker order fills right away against the book. A maker order rests on the book until someone fills it.
| 30-day volume | Taker | Maker | ANT taker | ANT maker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | 0.0400% | 0.0125% | 0.0200% | 0.00625% |
| $1M | 0.0370% | 0.0100% | 0.0185% | 0.0050% |
| $5M | 0.0350% | 0.0080% | 0.0175% | 0.0040% |
| $25M | 0.0300% | 0.0050% | 0.0150% | 0.0025% |
| $100M | 0.0270% | 0.0020% | 0.0135% | 0.0010% |
| $500M | 0.0250% | 0.0000% | 0.0125% | 0.0000% |
| $1B | 0.0200% | -0.0050% (rebate) | 0.0100% | -0.0050% (rebate) |
Notes:
- Only the top tier earns a maker rebate. Every lower tier pays a positive maker fee.
- Some accounts created during the beta are temporarily on the top tier, whatever their volume.
- ANT's half-price fees have applied since 29 October 2026. As of November 2026 it is the only market with its own fee schedule. See the ANT market and our ANT perp guide.
- Apps built on Perps can add a builder fee of up to 0.10% that you approve. Check the total fee shown before you confirm.
| Trade | Open | Close | Round trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 notional, taker both ways | $0.40 | $0.40 | $0.80 |
| $10,000, taker both ways | $4.00 | $4.00 | $8.00 |
| $10,000, maker both ways | $1.25 | $1.25 | $2.50 |
| $10,000, maker in, taker out | $1.25 | $4.00 | $5.25 |
| $10,000 ANT, taker both ways | $2.00 | $2.00 | $4.00 |
Because fees are charged on notional, leverage multiplies them relative to your margin. With $1,000 of margin and taker orders both ways: at 2x ($2,000 notional) the round trip is $1.60, or 0.16% of margin. At 10x ($10,000) it is $8.00, or 0.8%. At 50x ($50,000) it is $40.00, or 4% of your margin per round trip.
Total cost of holding a position
Total cost = open fee + close fee + funding paid (minus funding received) + spread and slippageExample: a $10,000 BTC position ($1,000 margin at 10x), taker orders both ways ($8.00), base funding rate, price unchanged at exit.
| Held for | Fees | Funding (long pays) | Long total cost | Long cost as % of margin | Price rise a long needs to break even | Short result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | $8.00 | $3.00 | $11.00 | 1.1% | 0.11% | $8.00 - $3.00 = $5.00 cost |
| 1 week | $8.00 | $21.00 | $29.00 | 2.9% | 0.29% | $21.00 - $8.00 = $13.00 received |
| 30 days | $8.00 | $90.00 | $98.00 | 9.8% | 0.98% | $90.00 - $8.00 = $82.00 received |
Break-even move = total cost / notional, for example $29 / $10,000 = 0.29%. The short column holds only while the rate stays at the base level. The rate is reset every hour and can turn negative, and then shorts pay.
Fees matter most for short holds. Funding matters most for long holds. Spread and slippage are not in these numbers and can be the largest cost in thin markets: several smaller coins traded less than $50,000 in the 24 hours to 6 November 2026.
To see the live rate and the countdown to the next payment, open a market such as BTC on Polymarket Perps. The market header shows the funding rate and a countdown to the next payment.
Funding on weekends and when stock markets are closed
Stock, index and commodity perps trade 24/7, and funding is charged every hour, including Saturday and Sunday. While the home exchange is closed, the index uses the overnight or weekend feed set, where outside data is thinner. A position held from Friday 20:00 UTC to Monday 08:00 UTC pays or receives 60 hourly payments. For a $10,000 USA500 long at the base rate: 60 × $0.0625 = $3.75.
Where to check funding and fees
- Market page: the current funding rate and the time to the next payment, plus the mark and oracle prices.
- Order ticket: the estimated fee before you confirm.
- Portfolio: a Funding tab with every payment, and a Fee column for trades.
- API: funding history and the fee schedule are public. See the Perps bot guide.
New to Perps? Start with the first trade guide, then open Polymarket Perps.
