Top Perp DEX Funding Rate Arbitrage Trades — April 17, 2026

Funding rate arbitrage on perp DEXs is delivering outsized yields this week as scattered liquidity and meme-coin speculation push rates to extreme levels. With the total crypto market cap sitting at $2.63 trillion and BTC dominance holding firm at 57%, capital is clearly rotating into mid-caps and narratives — RAVE surged 36.8% today, M gained 30.5%, and DOT climbed 11.8%. That speculative energy is bleeding into perp funding. Right now Hyperliquid lists TST at an annualised 79.5%, while SAGA has flipped to -23.82%, creating clean carry and reverse-carry setups. The opportunity set is wide, but execution matters: rate dispersion between venues like Aster, Lighter, and Backpack can add or subtract hundreds of basis points to your net yield. Here is a structured breakdown of the best trades on the board today.

TST's 79.5% APY Carry Trade Breakdown

TST is the standout opportunity right now, printing a funding rate of 0.0726% per 8 hours — or 79.5% annualised — with a mark price of just $0.02. The trade is straightforward: buy TST spot and short the TST-PERP pair to collect the funding payment on the short leg while remaining delta-neutral. At a $0.02 mark price, the capital requirement for the spot leg is minimal, making this an efficient use of margin. The risk is that TST's extreme rate signals a crowded short-side consensus — if spot dumps hard, the perp basis could widen temporarily, creating mark-to-market losses on the short before funding compensates. Still, three consecutive 8-hour payments at this rate would cover roughly 0.22% of notional, which at these low absolute prices translates to meaningful P&L. Compare rates across Hyperliquid, Aster, and Backpack using Tangerine to ensure you are shorting on the venue paying the highest rate — a 10-basis-point difference compounds fast at this yield level.

Negative Funding Rate Trades — SAGA and ALT Shorts Pay You

Negative funding rates create the reverse carry: you go long the perp and short the spot, collecting funding because shorts are paying longs. SAGA is currently at -0.0218% per 8 hours (-23.82% annualised) with a mark price of $0.03, making it the highest-conviction negative-rate trade on the board. ALT is also negative at -0.0059% per 8 hours (-6.41% annualised) at $0.01. The SAGA setup is particularly attractive because -23.82% annualised means longs are being paid to hold position — if you can source SAGA spot liquidity to short against, the carry is substantial. ALT's rate is milder but still respectable for a stable low-volatility pair. The critical execution detail is finding a venue where the negative rate is deepest. Tangerine aggregates SAGA and ALT funding across Hyperliquid, Lighter, and other perp DEXs so you can pinpoint which exchange is offering the most generous long-side carry before committing capital.

Mid-Yield Carry Trades Worth Scaling Into

Beyond the extremes, a cluster of assets offers double-digit annualised yields with potentially more sustainable rate dynamics. GRIFFAIN sits at 0.0218% per 8h (23.85% annualised) at $0.02 — a solid carry if you believe the rate will persist for more than a few cycles. MAVIA is close behind at 0.0209% per 8h (22.89% annualised) with a $0.04 mark price. ZEREBRO pays 0.0163% per 8h (17.8% annualised), VINE clocks 0.0143% per 8h (15.63% annualised), and HEMI offers 0.0141% per 8h (15.42% annualised). All of these are in the 15–24% APY band which, in traditional markets, would be extraordinary. In crypto, the question is always rate persistence. These mid-tier rates tend to mean-revert faster than the headline-grabbing extremes but are also less likely to reverse violently. For portfolio construction, layering these alongside the TST carry provides diversification across rate regimes. Again, checking whether Aster or Lighter is quoting a slightly higher rate on the same asset via Tangerine can squeeze an extra 50–100 basis points annualised out of each position.

Cross-DEX Arbitrage Spread Hunting

The real edge in perp funding arbitrage is not just the absolute rate — it is the spread between venues. Hyperliquid dominates volume, but Aster, Lighter, and Backpack each have their own order books, their own open interest, and their own funding rate curves. When an asset like GRIFFAIN or ZEREBRO is paying 17–24% on Hyperliquid but perhaps 28% on Lighter due to thinner liquidity and heavier short pressure, the arbitrageur should short on Lighter and go long spot, collecting the premium spread. Conversely, if SAGA is -23.82% on Hyperliquid but only -15% on Backpack, the long-perp carry is more profitable on Hyperliquid. These cross-venue spreads of 300–800 basis points annualised are not uncommon in the current market and represent near-risk-free alpha for traders who monitor them in real time. Tangerine's aggregation layer surfaces exactly these discrepancies across all major perp DEXs in a single view, eliminating the need to manually check each platform's funding page before every trade.

Risk Management for Low-Cap Perp Arbitrage

The yields are attractive, but low-cap perp arbitrage carries specific risks that demand discipline. First, slippage risk: TST, ZEREBRO, and ALT all have mark prices between $0.01 and $0.02, meaning even modest order sizes can move the market on thinner order books, eroding the carry advantage. Second, funding rate reversion: a 79.5% annualised rate on TST will not last — it typically normalises within days as capital enters the trade. Your window might be 6 to 48 hours, so position sizing should reflect a short-duration thesis. Third, smart-contract and custodial risk across multiple venues: splitting capital between Hyperliquid, Aster, Lighter, and Backpack diversifies this, but also increases operational complexity. Fourth, basis risk if the perp-spot spread widens during volatile moves — today's market saw RAVE gain 36.8% and M gain 30.5%, reminders that meme-coin perps can gap wildly. Use isolated margin per trade, set hard stop-losses on the perp leg, and always verify that the net funding collected after fees exceeds your estimated slippage cost before entering. Tangerine helps here too: by comparing not just rates but effective rates after estimated fees across venues, it lets you reject trades where the gross yield looks good but the net yield does not justify the risk.