BTC perpetual funding rates spike as open interest and longs surge with price

Funding rates for Bitcoin perpetual futures have spiked sharply in the past 24 hours, especially on USDT- and USD-margined contracts. The latest daily aggregated rate across exchanges reached 0.010885% on May 22, up from 0.007804% on May 21 and just 0.005429% on May 20.

Both OI- and volume-weighted funding rates rose notably between May 21 and May 22, peaking during the early hours of May 22 before moderating later in the day. This pattern suggests a burst in long demand as Bitcoin pushed to a new all-time high of $111,000, followed by some cooling as price momentum stabilized.

The funding rate for token-margined perpetuals has remained comparatively flat. This is consistent with historical behavior: token-margined contracts settle in BTC itself, so the cost of leverage is naturally diluted when the underlying asset is rapidly appreciating.

Traders are less incentivized to pay steep funding when the gains are already compounded in BTC terms, and arbitrageurs tend to balance positions more quickly across these markets.

Chart showing the funding rate for token-margined Bitcoin futures from May 1 to May 22, 2025 (Source: CryptoQuant)

Meanwhile, USDT- or USD-margined contracts remain more sensitive to directional bias since they’re structured to track USD-denominated PnL, amplifying the funding demand when long interest surges.

Chart showing the funding rate for USD and USDT-margined Bitcoin futures from May 1 to May 22, 2025 (Source: CryptoQuant)

A closer look at individual exchanges shows that the majority of large venues, including Binance, OKX, Bybit, and Bitget, reported stable rates near 0.0100%.

However, platforms like Crypto.com and WhiteBIT showed negative funding rates of -0.0134% and -0.0100%, respectively. This indicates a dominant short-side imbalance on these venues, possibly driven by hedging flows or retail sell pressure.

Conversely, exchanges like BingX and Vertex reported lower positive rates, suggesting a more neutral or evenly balanced trader base.

These discrepancies are often the result of exchange-specific liquidity depth, user behavior, and institutional participation.

Larger platforms benefit from tighter arbitrage and more efficient funding alignment, while smaller venues may experience more persistent imbalances.

When funding rates deviate sharply, it often reflects temporary positioning inefficiencies or asymmetric demand that arbitrage has yet to correct.

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