Funding Rate Arbitrage from Scratch: Collect Funding Without Betting on Price
A practical 8-lesson course: what perpetual futures and the funding rate are, how to build a delta-neutral spot + perp or cross-exchange perp + perp position, calculate returns with fees, leverage and margin, find and check a setup in the P2P.Army scanner and manage risks — from rate flips to liquidation and ADL.
Antonio Merkle
What you will learn
- Understand how the funding rate works and who pays whom
- Build delta-neutral spot + perp and perp + perp positions
- Calculate break-even including fees, the price spread and leverage
- Find and check setups in the P2P.Army funding scanner
- Assess risks: rate flips, liquidation, ADL, depegs and exchange risks
- Open, manage and close a position using a checklist
Lessons
- 1.What a perpetual future and the funding rate areA perpetual future has no expiry date, so its price is tied to spot by the funding rate — a regular payment between longs and shorts. We look at who pays whom, how a payment is calculated and where the rate itself comes from.10 min read
- 2.How funding arbitrage works: spot + perp and perp + perpFunding arbitrage means two opposite positions of the same size: their price changes cancel out while funding remains. We look at four schemes, when each one works and what price neutrality costs you.8 min read
- 3.Calculating returns: fees, leverage, margin and APRFunding arrives bit by bit, while fees and the price spread are paid up front. Using two illustrative examples — perp + perp and spot + perp — we count how many payments break-even takes, how leverage changes returns and the liquidation buffer, and why “APR 200%” in a calculator promises nothing.10 min read
- 4.How to find setups in the P2P.Army funding scannerWe go through the funding scanner table column by column on a real row: what Rate 1 and Rate 2 mean, why a negative price spread is your entry cost, how the 24h projection differs from history and which filters a beginner should turn on.11 min read
- 5.Analyzing a setup: rate history, intervals and price spreadThe table shows the rate right now, but you will earn on the rates of the coming days. The pair page shows how stable the difference is, what entry costs and whether the setup hides a trap: different intervals, stale data, the same ticker for different coins.10 min read
- 6.Funding arbitrage risks: rate flips, liquidation, ADL, depegs and exchangesTwo opposite positions cancel out price moves but do not protect against anything else. We go through the risks that made delta-neutral positions lose money — from negative funding to the October 10, 2025 crash, when auto-deleveraging closed hedges and the collateral stablecoin on Binance was worth less than 66 cents.10 min read
- 7.Your first trade step by step: from choosing a pair to alertsPutting it all together: from choosing a pair in the scanner to two open positions with alerts. A checklist worth going through before every trade, and why your first setup should be small.8 min read
- 8.Holding and exiting: margin, rebalancing and when to close a setupOpening a setup is half the job. While it is open, the price moves, margin flows between the legs and the rate difference changes. We look at what to check every day, how to rebalance margin, when to close and how to sum up the trade.8 min read
The funding rate is a regular payment between longs and shorts on perpetual futures. Funding arbitrage collects these payments by holding two opposite positions so the result does not depend on the direction of price. The course goes from the basics — what a perp is and where the rate comes from — to your first trade and managing the position.
Screenshots are taken in the English P2P.Army interface. The scanner table, pair page and alert windows were captured on October 6, 2026 with that day’s real data; public blocks on October 31, 2026. Rates change every interval, so the numbers in the lessons illustrate the method rather than the current market.
We do not promise income: there is no “percent a day” and no monthly projections — only single-position calculations with fees and an honest look at risks, including cases when delta-neutral positions lost money. The scanner’s landing page and the funding FAQ are free; the scanner table, rate history and alerts are part of the DEX/CEX plan.