How funding rate arbitrage works
Perpetual futures use a funding rate to keep their mark price aligned with spot. When the perp trades above spot, longs pay shorts a small fee every funding interval. When perp trades below spot, shorts pay longs. The rate floats with demand — sometimes it's a few basis points per 8h, sometimes it's a full percentage point.
Critically, the funding rate is different on every exchange for the same asset, at the same moment. One venue might pay 30% APR; another might charge 10% APR on the same BTC perpetual. The reason is simple: each venue has its own order book, its own positioning skew, its own funding formula.
Funding rate arbitrage captures that gap. You go long on the venue paying high funding and short the same asset on the venue charging low (or paying-on-the-other-side) funding. Your delta is zero — every dollar of long is offset by a dollar of short. P&L doesn't come from price; it comes from the funding spread, paid directly into your account at every funding interval.
A worked example
Suppose Hyperliquid is paying +0.045% / 8h on HYPE perp (longs pay shorts), and Binance is paying −0.012% / 8h on the same HYPE perp. Annualized: Hyperliquid ≈ 49% APR cost to longs, Binance ≈ 13% APR pay to longs.
The arb: short HYPE on Hyperliquid (you collect 49% APR from the longs paying funding), long HYPE on Binance (you collect 13% APR because Binance is in negative funding). Combined: ~62% APR carry, delta-neutral.
Net of fees, slippage, and the cost of capital sitting as margin on both legs, you pocket maybe 35–45% APR. That's the basic playbook. The screener does the math for every asset across every venue, every 30 seconds.
What the scanner actually shows
The Usenami screener has a Max ARB column that computes the spread between the best-long-paying venue and the best-short-paying venue for every single asset, every tick. Hit "Arb candidates" preset and the table filters to assets where Max ARB > 5% APR (or your threshold).
Each row links to the asset's detail page where you see per-venue breakdown: which venue is paying what, 7-day funding history per venue, percentile ranking (is this an unusually wide spread for this asset, or is it normal?), and open-interest depth on each leg.
The detail page is where you decide whether the spread is real and durable, or a temporary dislocation that will close before you can put the trade on.
Risks the spread doesn't show
Funding flip. The spread can close — or invert — mid-hold. If the venue paying you 50% APR decides 4 hours later it's now charging 20% APR, your carry just halved. The screener's 7D funding chart shows whether the rate is mean-reverting or trending; check it.
Liquidation. If the two venues' mark prices diverge (oracle latency, liquidity gap, halt), one leg can liquidate before the other. Keep margin conservative; the carry isn't worth a forced unwind at the wrong price.
Counterparty + withdrawal. Smaller venues sometimes halt withdrawals. The funding pays into the account, but you can't move the capital out. Stick to deep, established venues for the bulk of your size.
Fees + slippage. The spread has to clear taker fees on both legs plus borrow on margin. Spreads under ~10% APR usually aren't worth it for retail-size positions.
How to actually run this strategy
1. Open the screener with the Arb candidates preset. Sort by Max ARB descending.
2. Click into the top candidate. Check the 7D history per venue — is the spread stable for hours, or is it a 5-minute dislocation?
3. Check open interest on both legs. If one venue is thin, slippage will eat your spread. You want a venue where your size is <5% of OI.
4. Open both legs simultaneously (or close enough). Mark the position with the funding schedule for both venues.
5. Watch for funding flips. The screener can email you when the spread you opened drops below your threshold, or when the high-funding venue's rate prints zero or below.