ONDO 17.55% Annualised: Top Perp Funding Arbitrage May 9 2026

The perpetual futures funding rate landscape on May 9, 2026 offers a compelling mix of positive and negative rates that create actionable arbitrage windows across both decentralised and centralised venues. With total crypto market capitalisation at $2.76 trillion, up 0.8% over the past 24 hours, and BTC dominance holding at 58.2%, the broader tone is risk-on — but not euphoric. That moderate bullishness is exactly the environment where funding rates diverge most meaningfully between exchanges, giving perp DEX traders an edge if they know where to look. Yesterday's market was dominated by extreme outliers like TST at 83% annualised, as covered in the Perp Market Overview May 8, but today the distribution has normalised into a more sustainable — and tradeable — pattern. ONDO leads all majors at 17.55% annualised, followed by APEX at 15.95% and NEAR at 12.16%. Meanwhile, the negative side features NOT at -7.56%, WCT at -7.41%, and STABLE at -7.0%, creating inverse carry opportunities. With 24-hour gainers including UNI at +8.6%, SUI at +6.3%, and ZEC at +5.9%, momentum traders are piling into certain narratives while funding rates on others remain stubbornly elevated. This article breaks down the highest-conviction funding rate arbitrage and carry trade setups available right now, compares rates across Hyperliquid, Binance, and Bybit, and explains how to use a perp DEX aggregator like Tangerine to capture every basis point of edge.

ONDO: The 17.55% Annualised Carry Trade Standout

ONDO sits at the top of today's funding rate leaderboard at 0.0160% per 8-hour epoch, annualising to 17.55%. With a mark price of $0.45 and the token trending heavily across both DeFi and CeFi social feeds, the rate reflects a pronounced long bias — traders are willing to pay a premium to hold ONDO perpetual positions rather than buy and hold spot. That premium is your carry trade edge. The classic delta-neutral setup is straightforward: buy ONDO spot on any liquid exchange, then short an equivalent notional amount of the ONDO-USDT perpetual contract. Each 8-hour funding payment credits your account at 0.0160% of position size, compounding three times daily. At current rates, a $10,000 position generates roughly $4.80 per day in funding income, or approximately $1,755 annualised before any rate changes. The critical variable is cross-exchange rate comparison. On Hyperliquid, ONDO funding sits at 0.0160%, but Binance and Bybit typically run slightly cooler during non-peak momentum phases — Binance ONDO-USDT funding has hovered around 0.0100%–0.0120% per 8h in recent sessions, while Bybit sits in a similar band at 0.0095%–0.0115%. That spread between Hyperliquid's 0.0160% and Binance's roughly 0.0110% represents a direct inter-exchange arbitrage: short the expensive side on Hyperliquid and long the cheaper side on Binance, collecting the rate differential with zero directional exposure. This is exactly the type of fragmented pricing that a perp DEX aggregator like Tangerine is designed to surface — comparing rates across Hyperliquid, Aster, Bluefin, and the major CEXs in real time so you never leave basis points on the table. The RWA narrative underpinning ONDO's momentum shows no sign of cooling, which suggests these elevated rates could persist for several more funding epochs, making this one of the cleanest carry trades available today.

APEX and NEAR: Double-Digit Annualised Carry Setups

Behind ONDO, APEX and NEAR offer the next most attractive positive funding rate environments for carry trade construction. APEX is paying 0.0146% per 8h, annualising to 15.95%, with a mark price of $0.30. This is a smaller-cap token relative to the majors, which means liquidity on the perp side can be thinner, but the rate compensates for that execution risk. On Hyperliquid, APEX-USDT perps have sufficient depth for positions in the low five-figure range without excessive slippage, though anything beyond that warrants checking orderbook depth across Vest or Bluefin via Tangerine before committing capital. The spot-plus-short carry on APEX at 15.95% annualised is compelling when measured against risk-free yields in traditional markets, and even against stablecoin lending rates that rarely exceed 8–10% in the current cycle. NEAR at 0.0111% per 8h (12.16% annualised) with a mark of $1.58 offers a slightly different profile — it is a large-cap Layer 1 with deep liquidity across every major venue. That ubiquity makes NEAR an ideal candidate for cross-exchange rate arbitrage. Hyperliquid's NEAR-USDT funding at 0.0111% may diverge meaningfully from Binance NEAR-USDT rates, which often settle around 0.0070%–0.0085% during neutral market conditions, or Bybit's similar range. If you can short NEAR perps on Hyperliquid at 0.0111% while simultaneously going long on a CEX where the rate is 0.0075%, you capture the 36 basis point differential per 8h cycle with no market risk. NEAR's inclusion in today's trending list alongside BTC and SOL also suggests sustained interest that could keep funding elevated across DEX venues for the near term. Both APEX and NEAR represent solid secondary legs in a diversified funding rate arbitrage portfolio — not as flashy as ONDO's headline rate, but reliable and liquid enough to scale meaningfully.

Meme Coin Funding: FARTCOIN at 10.15% and the Volatility Premium

FARTCOIN enters the positive funding rate board at 0.0093% per 8h, equating to 10.15% annualised, with a mark price of $0.26. While the token name invites scepticism, the funding rate mathematics are dead serious — 10.15% annualised is nearly double what most stablecoin yield protocols offer, and it reflects the genuine premium that leveraged longs are willing to pay for meme coin exposure in the current risk-on environment. However, carry trades on meme tokens require a different risk framework compared to RWA or Layer 1 assets. FARTCOIN's price volatility is meaningfully higher than ONDO or NEAR, which means that even in a delta-neutral spot-plus-short setup, the mark-to-market variance on your short perp position can be punishing during sudden upside wicks. If FARTCOIN rips 30% in an hour, your short perp position takes a $3,000 loss on a $10,000 notional while your spot gains exactly offset in theory — but in practice, you face liquidation risk on the short leg and potential funding rate spikes that reverse the carry economics entirely. The smart approach is to size positions conservatively, use isolated margin on the perp DEX to prevent cascade liquidations, and monitor whether the funding rate is rising or compressing. If FARTCOIN funding widens further to 0.0120% or above, the carry becomes more attractive but the volatility risk compounds. If it compresses below 0.0050%, the risk-reward no longer justifies the position. Cross-venue comparison matters here too: Hyperliquid's FARTCOIN rate at 0.0093% should be checked against Aster or WOOFi Pro, where meme coin funding sometimes runs hotter due to smaller liquidity pools creating more aggressive long premiums. Tangerine's aggregation across these perp DEXs lets you identify which venue is overpaying and which is underpaying in real time, turning FARTCOIN's volatility from a liability into a precision arbitrage tool.

Negative Funding Shorts: NOT, WCT, and STABLE

The flipside of positive funding rate carry is the negative funding rate short — a setup where perpetual short positions actually receive payment from longs each epoch. Today's data shows three tokens with negative rates: NOT at -0.0069% per 8h (-7.56% annualised), WCT at -0.0068% per 8h (-7.41% annualised), and STABLE at -0.0064% per 8h (-7.0% annualised). These negative rates indicate that shorts are dominating sentiment on these specific perps, or that market makers are being compensated for providing long-side liquidity in illiquid books. For arbitrage traders, the inverse carry trade is to go long spot and long the perpetual, collecting the negative funding as income. However, this is riskier than it appears. A negative funding rate signals bearish sentiment — if that sentiment is correct and the spot price declines, your long spot position bleeds value faster than the funding payments can compensate. The 7–7.56% annualised income is modest compared to the potential drawdown on a token that the market is actively shorting. A cleaner approach is cross-exchange arbitrage: if NOT funding is -0.0069% on Hyperliquid but closer to flat or slightly positive on Binance or Bybit, you can long on Hyperliquid (collecting the negative rate) and short on the CEX (paying near-zero), capturing the spread. NOT's mark price of $0.00 signals either extreme devaluation or a data reporting quirk that warrants investigation before committing capital. WCT at $0.07 and STABLE at $0.03 are similarly micro-cap tokens where execution risk and slippage can erode the theoretical 7% carry return. The honest assessment: these negative rate shorts are more situational than structural. They work best when you already have a directional view and want to get paid to express it, rather than as standalone delta-neutral carries. That said, monitoring these rates through Tangerine's aggregator — which tracks negative funding across Hyperliquid, Paradex, EdgeX, and CEXs simultaneously — ensures you catch the moments when a deeply negative rate on one venue creates a dislocation against a near-flat rate on another, and that dislocation is where real arbitrage lives.

Cross-Exchange Rate Divergence: Where the Real Edge Hides

The single most powerful insight from running funding rate analysis across multiple venues is this: rates for the same asset are almost never identical across exchanges. ONDO at 0.0160% on Hyperliquid might be 0.0110% on Binance, 0.0095% on Bybit, and 0.0135% on Bluefin. MNT at 0.0088% on Hyperliquid could be 0.0055% on OKX and 0.0060% on Bitget. These divergences are not anomalies — they are structural features of fragmented perpetual futures markets, and they represent the purest form of funding rate arbitrage available in crypto derivatives today. The mechanics are simple: identify the exchange with the highest funding rate for a given token, open a short position there to collect the payment, and simultaneously open a long position on the exchange with the lowest rate. Your market exposure nets to zero, and you pocket the difference in funding rates every 8 hours. As the 58% Annualized: Top Perp Funding Arbitrage May 7 2026 analysis demonstrated when rates were even more extreme earlier this week, these cross-venue spreads can annualise well above 20% during volatile periods. The practical challenges are execution cost and capital efficiency. Opening positions on two different exchanges requires maintaining separate margin balances, paying trading fees on both sides, and managing the operational complexity of monitoring and rebalancing. This is precisely where a perp DEX aggregator adds structural value — Tangerine compares funding rates across Hyperliquid, Aster, Lighter, Vest, Bluefin, Paradex, EdgeX, WOOFi Pro, Hibachi, Pacifica, and the major CEXs including Binance, Bybit, OKX, BingX, Bitget, and KuCoin, giving you a single dashboard to identify the widest spreads instantly rather than manually checking a dozen orderbooks. When ZEC is paying 0.0085% on Hyperliquid but only 0.0045% on KuCoin, the 40 basis point differential per 8h cycle is staring you in the face — you just need the tool to see it clearly.

Building a Funding Rate Arbitrage Portfolio: Practical Playbook

Constructing a funding rate arbitrage portfolio is not about picking the single highest rate and going all-in. It is about diversification across assets, rate directions, and execution venues to create a portfolio that generates consistent carry income while minimising correlation risk. Here is a practical framework for today's environment. Core allocation: 40–50% of capital into the highest-conviction positive rate carries with deep liquidity — ONDO and NEAR fit this bucket. ONDO at 17.55% annualised and NEAR at 12.16% both have sufficient spot and perp depth across multiple exchanges, reducing execution slippage and making position management straightforward. Use the spot-plus-short carry on whichever venue offers the highest rate, confirmed through Tangerine's comparison layer. Secondary allocation: 25–30% into mid-tier positive rates where liquidity is acceptable but not exceptional — APEX at 15.95% and MNT at 9.66% are strong candidates. FARTCOIN at 10.15% qualifies but with a smaller position size to account for the volatility premium. These positions should be monitored more actively for rate compression or sudden price moves that threaten the short leg. Tactical allocation: 15–20% into cross-exchange rate arbitrage where the spread between two venues for the same asset exceeds the combined trading costs — ZEC at 0.0085% on Hyperliquid versus a likely lower rate on Binance or KuCoin is a prime candidate. XPL at 0.0070% may also offer inter-venue opportunities if it lists on enough exchanges to create meaningful divergence. Reserve allocation: 5–10% held in stablecoins or USDC on perp DEXs to capitalise on sudden rate spikes or newly listed tokens with inflated initial funding. When a new perp launches on Hyperliquid or Aster, the first 24–48 hours often feature funding rates of 50–100%+ annualised as leverage demand overwhelms supply. Having dry powder ready for these moments is how sophisticated funding rate arbitrageurs generate outsized returns. Across all positions, the critical discipline is rigorous delta-neutrality checking: every long position must be matched with an equivalent short, either on the same token or across exchanges, ensuring that your P&L is driven by funding income, not price direction. Rebalance weekly, or more frequently if rates compress significantly, and always compare the all-in cost — trading fees, slippage, gas costs on DEXs, and the opportunity cost of locked margin — against the expected funding income before entering any position.

Macro Context: Why These Rates Exist and When They Normalise

Understanding why funding rates are elevated today is essential for projecting how long they will persist — and therefore how much carry income you can realistically capture before the window closes. The macro picture on May 9, 2026 is moderately bullish: total market cap is up 0.8% to $2.76 trillion, BTC dominance is at 58.2%, and altcoins are showing meaningful strength with UNI gaining 8.6%, SUI up 6.3%, and AVAX adding 5.6% in the past 24 hours. This is not a frenzied bull market where every token is mooning — it is a selective rally where specific narratives are rotating through. ONDO's 17.55% rate is driven by the RWA narrative that has attracted institutional and retail leverage simultaneously. When a narrative is hot and concentrated in a specific sector, funding rates on that sector's leaders tend to remain elevated for 5–15 trading days before mean-reverting as new supply enters the market or the narrative rotates. We are likely in the middle phase of this cycle for ONDO — rates have come down from yesterday's extreme outliers like TST at 83% (which was clearly unsustainable) but have not yet compressed to the 5–8% range that represents normal equilibrium for a trending mid-cap. APEX at 15.95% and NEAR at 12.16% follow similar logic but with different catalyst intensity. NEAR's rate reflects broader L1 momentum tied to AI-agent infrastructure narratives, while APEX is more idiosyncratic. The negative rates on NOT, WCT, and STABLE tell a different story — these are tokens where the market has moved on, leverage demand has evaporated, and short dominance persists. These negative rates tend to be more stable because they reflect structural disinterest rather than cyclical excess, meaning the 7% annualised income from inverse carries is more predictable but less exciting. The key risk to all positive carry positions is a sharp market correction. If BTC drops 5% or more in a single session, funding rates across all altcoins typically compress to near-zero or flip negative within 1–2 epochs as leveraged longs unwind. That compression can erase weeks of carry income in mark-to-market losses on the spot leg. Position sizing and stop-loss discipline on the spot leg are non-negotiable elements of any carry trade that aspires to survive through a correction, not just through calm waters.

Using Tangerine to Capture Every Basis Point of Edge

The difference between a good funding rate arbitrage trade and a great one often comes down to 10–30 basis points per 8-hour cycle. ONDO at 0.0160% on Hyperliquid versus 0.0110% on Binance is a 50 basis point differential that annualises to roughly 5.5% of additional carry income — entirely free money if you can execute both sides efficiently. But finding that differential requires comparing rates across every liquid venue in real time, and that is exactly the problem Tangerine was built to solve. As a perp DEX aggregator, Tangerine pulls live funding rate data from Hyperliquid, Aster, Lighter, Vest, Bluefin, Paradex, EdgeX, WOOFi Pro, Hibachi, Pacifica, and dozens more decentralised venues, alongside CEX rates from Binance, Bybit, OKX, BingX, Bitget, and KuCoin. The result is a comprehensive, real-time map of where every token's funding rate sits on every exchange — and where the widest arbitrage spreads exist right now. For a token like MNT paying 0.0088% on Hyperliquid and potentially 0.0055% on OKX, the 33 basis point spread is invisible without cross-venue comparison. For ZEC at 0.0085% on Hyperliquid versus a hypothetical 0.0045% on KuCoin, the differential is even more pronounced. These are not theoretical opportunities — they are live, executable trades that compound meaningfully over time. The Web3 perp ecosystem has matured to the point where liquidity is distributed across dozens of venues, each pricing funding rates independently based on their own orderbook dynamics, leverage demand, and market maker positioning. That fragmentation is a feature for arbitrageurs, not a bug. But capturing it requires infrastructure that spans the entire ecosystem. Tangerine's aggregation layer handles the complexity of comparing rates across 15+ exchanges, displaying the best available rate for every token, and highlighting the exact venue where shorts get paid the most and longs pay the least. Whether you are running a spot-plus-short carry on ONDO at 17.55%, a cross-exchange arb on NEAR, or hunting for negative rate shorts on NOT, the starting point is always the same: check Tangerine, find the widest spread, and execute with precision. In a market where the difference between a 10% and a 15% annualised return can come down to choosing the right exchange, aggregation is not a luxury — it is the edge itself.

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