Use the rate shown for your signed-in account, region, instrument and actual fill. The 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker rates in this guide are teaching assumptions, not a promise that every account or contract has those rates.
Eight hours is common, but OKX may adjust a contract to shorter intervals such as 6, 4, 2 or 1 hour. Read fundingTime and nextFundingTime for the contract instead of hard-coding a clock schedule, and confirm the completed amount in your bills.
At a positive settled funding rate, longs pay shorts; at a negative settled rate, shorts pay longs. The amount for a USDT-margined position is the position value at each settlement multiplied by that settlement's rate.
fundingRate is a forecast for the upcoming settlement and may change. Use fundingTime and nextFundingTime for timing, settState for settlement status and settFundingRate for the settled or processing cycle. nextFundingRate can be empty and should not be treated as a signal.
Under explicit assumptions of 1,000 USDT notional, 0.05% taker on entry and exit, 90 settlements, and +0.01% paid each settlement on unchanged notional, order fees are 1 USDT and funding is 9 USDT. Actual funding must sum each settlement's position value and settled rate, and the exit fee uses the actual exit value.
1. Start with your own fee table and fills
Trading cost starts with two records: the rate your signed-in account shows for the specific contract, and the liquidity role recorded on the fill. Rates can depend on account tier, product and region, so this page does not reproduce a global VIP ladder.
Open OKX's fee page while signed in, select the relevant derivatives product, and save the maker and taker rates shown for your account. After an order fills, use the order history or bill to confirm the charged rate and fee. For a USDT-margined linear contract, a practical estimate is fill value × applicable fee rate; add every partial fill rather than assuming one order equals one fee line.
The 0.02% maker and 0.05% taker figures used later are teaching assumptions only. Replace them with your own displayed rates before using the worksheet.
2. Read funding time and settlement fields correctly
Funding transfers between long and short positions. At a positive settled rate, longs pay shorts; at a negative settled rate, shorts pay longs. For a USDT-margined position, estimate each transfer as position value at that settlement × settled funding rate. The final bill is the source of record.
Eight hours is a common interval, but OKX can adjust collection frequency, including shorter 6-, 4-, 2- or 1-hour intervals. Do not split a day into three fixed buckets or assume a particular UTC schedule. In GET /api/v5/public/funding-rate?instId=BTC-USDT-SWAP, compare fundingTime with nextFundingTime to identify the current interval.
fundingRate is the predicted rate for the upcoming settlement and can change. settFundingRate is the rate used for the settled or processing cycle, interpreted together with settState. nextFundingRate may be an empty string under the current-period method; do not replace it with zero or turn it into a trading signal. minFundingRate and maxFundingRate give the bounds returned for that instrument at that time.
Settlement processing is not a safe millisecond boundary for a close-and-reopen rule. If timing matters, read the timestamps, allow for order and processing latency, and verify the actual funding bill afterward.
3. Maker and taker depend on the fill
Maker means the executed order added liquidity to the order book; taker means it removed liquidity. Order type alone does not decide the fee. A limit order priced to execute immediately can be taker. A post-only order is designed not to take liquidity, but it may be cancelled or remain unfilled.
For every entry and exit, record execution price, filled quantity, fill value, maker/taker role and charged fee. Slippage and an unfilled order are separate execution outcomes, not fee rebates. This is why a cost estimate should not say “limit = maker” or prescribe one order type for every instrument.
4. Two reproducible cost examples
Example A: 100 USDT margin × 10. Assume a 1,000 USDT long, taker fee 0.05% on both sides, 90 settlements, positive settled funding of 0.01% each time, and a simplified unchanged 1,000 USDT funding notional. Entry fee is 0.50, assumed exit fee is 0.50, and funding is 90 × 1,000 × 0.01% = 9. The teaching total is 1 + 9 = 10 USDT.
To include the actual exit value, suppose entry price is 100,000 and quantity is 0.01 BTC. Keeping the simplified 9 USDT funding assumption, break-even solves 0.01 × (exit − 100,000) = 0.50 + 9 + 0.01 × exit × 0.05%. The result is an exit near 101,000.50, a rise of about 1.0005%. The familiar 1% figure is only the fixed-notional approximation.
Example B: 100 USDT margin × 5. Assume 500 USDT notional, maker fee 0.02% on both sides, 42 settlements and +0.01% each time on unchanged 500 USDT notional. Order fees are 500 × 0.02% × 2 = 0.20; funding is 42 × 500 × 0.01% = 2.10; teaching total is 2.30 USDT.
With entry price 100,000 and quantity 0.005 BTC, the exit-value equation gives break-even near 100,460.09, or about 0.4601%. The exact exit fee there is about 0.10046 USDT, so actual cost at that price is about 2.30046 USDT.
Both examples freeze notional and rates to isolate the arithmetic. For a real position, calculate funding as Σ(position value at settlement i × settled rate i), then add every actual entry and exit fill fee. A changing mark price, partial close or shorter funding interval changes the total.
5. Annualise without changing the denominator
If an 8-hour rate were fixed at 0.01% for an entire year, its simple nominal annualisation would be 0.01% × 3 × 365 = 10.95%. That percentage is relative to position notional. It is not interest on “nine borrowed margins,” it is not compounded, and it does not predict future funding.
With 10x exposure and a fixed 100 USDT initial margin, the same hypothetical annual funding total would equal 109.5% of that margin because the position notional is 1,000 USDT. State the denominator whenever presenting the number. A funding-arbitrage return also requires spot financing, trading fees, basis movement, margin, execution and transfer costs; subtracting an unrelated lending rate is not a complete profit calculation.
6. Reconcile the estimate to your bills
Before entry, save the account fee rates, instrument, expected liquidity role, quantity and expected fill value. For every expected funding event, record fundingTime, nextFundingTime and the forecast separately from the eventual settled rate.
Afterward, export or copy the order fills and funding bills. Sum actual fill fees, then sum each funding line using its actual position value and settled rate. Record partial closes and any interval changes. The difference between estimate and bill should be explainable by fill role, price, quantity, settlement count or rate—not hidden inside a single “30-day cost” percentage.
Official sources checked in September 2026 are the OKX perpetual funding mechanism and the OKX API documentation. For account-specific trading rates, use the signed-in fee page linked above. For liquidation inputs, continue with the leverage and liquidation guide.