Perpetual futures carry no expiration date, so exchanges rely on a recurring cash payment known as funding to keep the contract's price close to an underlying spot reference. The payment runs between traders holding opposite positions and is calculated on their exposure, not simply on their posted collateral. As a result, the same dollar transfer can consume very different percentages of two traders' equity, even when prices do not move at all.

Under OG.com Markets' $SEI contract filing dated Oct. 8, 2026, a positive funding rate means longs pay shorts, while a negative rate means shorts pay longs. The exchange and the clearinghouse retain none of that transfer.

The dollar-settled contract, covered in The Defiant's $SEI listing report, represents one $SEI per contract. Its funding payment is the funding rate multiplied by the funding settlement price and the number of $SEI represented by the position — not the amount of margin posted.

A Matched Ledger With Different Collateral

Consider two hypothetical traders, one long and one short, each with exposure to 10,000 $SEI at an assumed funding settlement price of $1. Each therefore carries $10,000 of notional exposure. The long starts with $4,000 in dollar collateral, while the short starts with $8,000.

Assume both hold their positions through three eight-hour funding calculations. Prices and position sizes stay unchanged, with no trading fees, borrowing charges, deposits or withdrawals, and both traders remain adequately margined throughout. These balances are illustrative rather than quoted OG.com margin requirements, and the funding rates used in the scenarios below are illustrative assumptions as well, not figures quoted on any venue.

At an assumed +0.10% per interval, the long owes the short $10 each interval, calculated as $10,000 × 0.001. Cumulative funding runs to $10, then $20, then $30. After all three transfers settle, the long's equity stands at $3,970 and the short's at $8,030.

In a separate scenario starting from the same original balances, an assumed -0.10% per interval reverses the direction of the payments. The short pays $30 cumulatively, leaving $7,970, while the long receives $30 and reaches $4,030.

That $30 transfer equals 0.75% of the long's $4,000 starting collateral, but only 0.375% of the short's $8,000. Those percentages describe the funding-only change in starting equity — not the quoted funding rate, nor a total trading return. Equal exposure produces equal and opposite dollar transfers, and the smaller collateral balance makes the identical payment twice as large in percentage terms.

The $SEI filing calculates funding over eight-hour intervals ending at 00:00, 08:00 and 16:00 UTC, using the positions held at each interval's end. Adjustments are paid or collected together with variation margin — the cash adjustment for price changes — at twice-daily settlements held at noon and 5 p.m. ET. The ledger shows cumulative obligations by calculation interval, not three immediate account debits. Those intervals, settlement times, and margin mechanics are terms of this specific contract as filed, so a reader evaluating a different venue's contract would need to consult that venue's own documentation.

Funding Is Not Trading Fees or Borrowing Interest

Funding transfers are distinct from the fees charged for trading. Hyperliquid's documentation likewise describes funding as peer-to-peer, with no fees collected on the payments; The Defiant's report on Hyperliquid's platform fees examines a different money flow.

Borrowing interest, by contrast, is a financing cost on funds or assets advanced by a lender, rather than a payment to the opposite side of a perpetual position. Kraken's spot-margin disclosures, for example, separately charge for the margin extended and for trading. The baseline labelled "Interest Rate" in the $SEI funding formula is a calculation component, not a separate loan bill, and it enters the formula regardless of whether any particular position involves borrowing.

Liquidation is different again: it closes a position outright rather than periodically transferring funding. OG.com's $SEI filing requires dollar initial margin to be maintained and permits a margin call or liquidation if collateral falls below the applicable requirement. Paying funding reduces the equity available to support that requirement, even without an adverse price move.