Perp DEX Funding Rates: Hyperliquid vs dYdX vs GMX Costs

By Chanuka Geekiyanage Oct 27, 2026

Funding is the cost most perp traders underestimate. A 0.045% taker fee looks small, but a position held for a week can pay far more in funding than it paid to open and close. Hyperliquid, dYdX and GMX each calculate funding differently, so the same trade can cost very different amounts depending on where you hold it. This article compares how each venue charges funding, what else you pay while a position is open, and which venue fits scalpers, swing traders, and hedgers. Live rates change every hour, so use the numbers here to understand the structure, then check current rates in each app before committing capital.

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How Funding Works on Each Venue

Funding is a payment between longs and shorts, not a fee paid to the exchange. When the perp trades above the oracle price, longs usually pay shorts, and when it trades below, shorts pay longs. Unlike the trading fee, funding keeps charging for as long as you hold.

Hyperliquid: Hourly, With an Interest Floor

Hyperliquid’s formula is the average premium index plus a clamped interest term. The premium is sampled every 5 seconds and averaged over the hour. The interest component is fixed at 0.01% per 8 hours, which is 0.00125% per hour, or about 11% a year paid by longs to shorts.

That floor means a long in a flat market still pays a small carry. The documented cap is 4% per hour, far looser than most centralized exchanges. The rate shown in the app is already hourly, so do not divide it by 8 again.

dYdX v4: Hourly, No Baseline on Cross Markets

dYdX v4 builds a premium from impact bid and ask prices. Block proposers submit premium votes, the median becomes a one-minute sample, and the hourly rate averages those samples. Funding equals the premium divided by 8, plus the interest component.

Cross-margin markets default to a 0% interest component, so a flat market carries almost no baseline cost. Isolated markets use 1 bps per 8 hours. The 8-hour cap is 600% times the gap between initial and maintenance margin, which is 12% for BTC-USD. Governance can change these parameters.

GMX v2: Adaptive Funding Plus a Borrowing Fee

GMX has no order book or premium index. The side with more open interest pays the side with less, and the rate adapts over time based on how long the imbalance lasts. Funding earned by the smaller side is claimable through the Claims tab.

GMX also charges an hourly borrowing fee to both sides, paid to liquidity providers for the pool capacity your position reserves. It rises as pool utilization rises. Position fees are dynamic too, with GMX tooling citing roughly 0.04% when a trade improves pool balance and 0.06% when it worsens it. Check the live figure in the app.

Image source: Hyperliquid

Side-by-Side Cost Comparison

Cost factor	Hyperliquid	dYdX v4	GMX v2
Funding interval	Hourly	Hourly	Continuous, adaptive
Funding driver	Order book premium plus interest	Median premium votes plus interest	Long/short open interest imbalance
Baseline carry in a flat market	About 11% a year against longs	0% on cross markets	None from funding, but borrowing fee applies
Documented cap	4% per hour	600% x (IMF - MMF) per 8 hours	Governed parameters
Base perp fees	0.045% taker, 0.015% maker	5.0 bps taker, 1.0 bps maker at tier 1	About 0.04% to 0.06% per open or close

Fees fall with volume on Hyperliquid (14-day) and dYdX (30-day). Hyperliquid also offers up to 40% off through HYPE staking, which carries a 7-day unbonding period.

Worked Example: $10,000 Long Held for 7 Days

On Hyperliquid, round-trip taker fees at the base tier cost about $9. If funding sits at 0.01% per hour, you pay about $168 over 168 hours. At the interest floor of 0.00125% per hour, you pay about $21.

On dYdX, round-trip taker fees at tier 1 are about $10. In a flat cross market, funding can be near zero or negative, though a crowded long market can cost as much as Hyperliquid. On GMX, round-trip position fees run about $8 to $12, plus the borrowing fee for 168 hours, plus funding if your side is larger.

For a one-week hold, funding and borrowing can be several times the trading fee. For a one-hour scalp, fees and slippage decide the outcome.

How to Evaluate Funding Before You Trade

Convert to one unit. An hourly 0.01% equals 0.08% per 8 hours, or about 87.6% a year if it never changes.
Read the history, not only the current rate. Three weeks of positive funding is a structural cost, while a one-hour spike is noise.
Check which side is crowded. The crowded side pays, and on GMX the lighter side can earn.
Add the costs not called funding. That means the Hyperliquid interest floor and the GMX borrowing fee.
Check depth for your size. Thin books can push both slippage and funding against you, especially on dYdX and long-tail markets.

Which Venue Fits Which Trader

Liquidity matters as much as cost. As of October 25, 2026, DefiLlama showed Hyperliquid with about $8.2 billion in TVL and about $203 billion in 30-day perp volume. GMX had about $242 million in TVL on October 17, and dYdX traded roughly $55 million in the 24 hours Castle Labs tracked on October 14. For a wider ranking that includes newer venues, see this best perp DEX comparison covering Hyperliquid, Aster, dYdX and GMX.

User type	Recommended venue	Reason
Active scalper or day trader	Hyperliquid	Deepest liquidity and low base fees
Swing trader holding in calm markets	dYdX	No baseline carry on cross markets, but check depth first
Basis or delta-neutral trader	Hyperliquid, compared with dYdX	Funding often diverges between venues, but size is limited by depth
Minority-side or large oracle-priced fills	GMX	Smaller side earns funding, though borrowing fees apply

Volume figures vary by tracker. DefiLlama counts GMX V1, V2 and Solana together, so check which markets a number covers.

Ways to Cut Funding Costs

Hold the lighter side when it fits your view. It pays less, or earns, on all three venues.
Use maker orders. Hyperliquid’s base maker fee is one-third of its taker fee.
Close before the hourly settlement for short trades. A position opened and closed within the same hour on Hyperliquid pays no funding.
Compare venues before entering. A perp DEX aggregator that routes for better execution can help, but confirm it accounts for funding, since some only optimize entry price.

Image source: defillama.com/perps

My Take

Hyperliquid is the default for most traders. Its liquidity keeps slippage low, and its fees are among the lowest. The interest floor is a real cost for long holders, so check funding history before holding a long for weeks.

dYdX is cheaper to hold in quiet cross markets, but only for sizes its order book can absorb. GMX suits traders on the minority side of a crowded market, but the borrowing fee makes it a poor home for long idle positions. Before using any of them, check the 30-day funding history, the live borrowing fee or funding rate, and depth at your size. If holding costs exceed the profit you expect, skip the trade.

Conclusion

Hyperliquid is the best all-around choice for active traders, dYdX is cheapest to hold in calm cross markets, and GMX suits minority-side positions. Holding time decides everything. Short trades are a fee and slippage problem, while multi-day trades are a funding problem.

The biggest mistakes are mixing hourly and 8-hour rates, ignoring Hyperliquid’s interest floor, and forgetting GMX’s borrowing fee. Pick one asset, pull its funding history on each venue, and calculate the full cost of your holding period before you deposit.

FAQs

1. Is Hyperliquid funding cheaper than dYdX funding?

It depends on the market, because Hyperliquid carries an interest floor of about 11% a year against longs while dYdX cross markets default to 0%. In crowded long markets, both can charge similar rates, so compare live history for your asset.

2. Does GMX charge funding fees to every trader?

No, only the side with more open interest pays funding, and the smaller side can earn it. Both sides still pay the hourly borrowing fee, so holding costs can exceed funding income.

3. How do I compare an hourly funding rate to an 8-hour rate?

Multiply the hourly rate by 8 to get the 8-hour equivalent, so 0.01% hourly equals 0.08% per 8 hours. Multiply the hourly rate by 8,760 for a raw annual figure.

4. What is the maximum funding rate on each venue?

Hyperliquid documents a cap of 4% per hour, and dYdX caps the 8-hour rate at 600% times the gap between initial and maintenance margin, which is 12% for BTC-USD. GMX uses governed parameters, so check the current settings in the app.

5. Do I pay funding if I close a position within the hour on Hyperliquid?

No, a position opened and closed within the same hour pays no funding because payments settle hourly. You still pay trading fees and any slippage.

References

Hyperliquid Docs, Funding: https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/funding

Hyperliquid Docs, Fees: https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/trading/fees

dYdX Documentation, Funding: https://docs.dydx.xyz/concepts/trading/funding

dYdX Documentation, Trading Fees: https://docs.dydx.exchange/introduction-trading_fees

GMX Synthetics README (GitHub): https://github.com/gmx-io/gmx-synthetics/blob/main/README.md

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About the Author: Chanuka Geekiyanage

Chanuka is a content writer, editor and contributor at Panaprium, specializing in long-form editorial articles. He conducts in-depth research and produces well-structured, carefully edited content with a strong focus on clarity, SEO best practices, and consistent formatting. His work spans lifestyle, fashion, wellness, and technical topics, and all articles are reviewed and refined to meet Panaprium’s editorial standards.

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