BitMEX Research Report: 92% of Cryptocurrency Funding Rates Are Positive, Reflecting a Structural Bias in the Market

BitMEX today released its research report, "Anchors and Ceilings: Understanding the Structure of Funding Rates," revealing that two structural forces dominate the cryptocurrency market, causing funding rates to remain positive up to 92% of the time, while rates typically quickly retrace once they exceed a baseline of 0.01%. The report details how cryptocurrency traders can exploit this predictable dynamic to develop sophisticated, market-structure-based trading strategies. The research analyzed data from BitMEX, Binance, and Hyperliquid through the third quarter of 2025 and revealed several key insights: - A structural "anchor" stabilizes funding rates at 0.01%: The perpetual contract funding rate calculation formula includes an interest component that acts like a gravitational force, pulling the rate toward the 0.01% baseline. Data shows that even when the contract traded at a slight discount, funding rates remained positive over 92% of the time in the third quarter of 2025. - Arbitrage "ceilings" limit extreme spikes: The influx of institutional capital placed a hard cap on funding rates. This capital was quickly deployed to short high-premium contracts, pushing rates back down to the baseline. This ensured that extremely positive funding rates were short-lived and volatile. - BitMEX leads in funding rate stability: Analysis confirms that BitMEX exhibits the most stable and predictable funding rates for both BTC and ETH. During the quarter, BTC fees remained precisely at 0.01% 78.19% of the time, and ETH fees remained at 0.01% 87.52%. This demonstrates that BitMEX is an efficient market, with its perpetual swaps consistently and closely tracking spot prices. In contrast, platforms like Hyperliquid exhibit significantly higher volatility.