Funding on a gold perpetual is a recurring payment passed directly between long and short traders, not a fee to the exchange, that keeps the contract's price tethered to its gold reference. On BloFin's gold perpetuals, it settles every 4 hours. Whether you pay or receive it depends on your side and whether the rate is positive or negative.
A gold perpetual never expires, so it needs some force pulling its price back toward gold whenever the two drift apart. Funding is that force. The base idea is the same one used across crypto perpetuals (source: Investopedia: Perpetual Futures), so if the concept is new, start with the general explainer on crypto funding rates and come back. This guide is the gold-specific layer on top.
What follows is how the rate is actually built, why gold settles it more often than a typical crypto contract, and what it costs you to hold.
How the gold funding rate is actually calculated
The funding rate is built from two pieces: how far the perpetual trades from its gold reference, and a small fixed interest component, combined through a formula that caps how far one pulls the other. When the perpetual sits close to its reference, the rate settles near that fixed interest number. When it drifts, the premium takes over.
BloFin publishes the exact formula in its own documentation, which means the calculation is inspectable rather than a black box (source: BloFin Help Center: Introduction to BloFin Futures Funding Rates). It looks like this:
Funding Rate (F) = P + Clamp(I - P, -0.05%, +0.05%)
P = Premium Index (how far the perp trades from its gold reference)
I = Interest (fixed, stipulated at 0.03% per day)
Clamp(...) = keeps the (I - P) adjustment inside -0.05% to +0.05%
The premium index (P) measures the gap between the perpetual's own price and the gold reference price, sampled continuously and time-weighted. The interest component (I) is a small fixed number, stipulated at 0.03% per day. The clamp is a guardrail. It stops the interest-versus-premium adjustment from swinging beyond a narrow band, so the rate stays calm when the perpetual is tracking gold closely. When the perpetual sits within a narrow band of its reference, the clamp makes the rate settle at that fixed interest component by default (source: Spark: Funding Rate). This two-part structure, a premium plus a fixed interest component held together by a clamp, is the standard design across major perpetual venues, not something unique to gold (source: Hyperliquid Docs: Funding).
Once the rate is set, the amount you actually pay or receive is simple:
Funding Fee = Nominal Value of your Position x Funding Rate
So the fee scales with your position size, not your margin. A positive rate means longs pay shorts, and a negative rate means shorts pay longs. One structural quirk is worth knowing early. The fixed interest component gives the rate a mild positive lean over time, which is why funding on most perpetuals sits positive more often than not, and longs pay shorts more often than the reverse (source: BitMEX: 2025 Q3 Derivatives Report).
Why BloFin settles gold-perp funding every 4 hours
BloFin settles funding on its gold perpetuals every 4 hours, at 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00, and 20:00 UTC+8. That is more often than the 8-hour cadence BloFin uses on its standard crypto perpetuals. It is a deliberate setting BloFin applies to its gold perps, and to some of its other newer contracts, rather than an industry default.
Here is the full settlement clock BloFin documents for its contracts. Different contracts can run on different cadences, and gold uses the 4-hour row.
Cadence | Settlement times (UTC+8) |
|---|---|
Every 8 hours (standard crypto perps) | 00:00, 08:00, 16:00 |
Every 4 hours (BloFin gold perps) | 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00 |
Every 2 hours | 00:00, 02:00, 04:00 ... 22:00 |
Every 1 hour | Every hour on the hour |
Cadence is not universal across the industry. Some venues settle gold-perp funding every 8 hours instead, so a rate you see quoted on one platform is not directly comparable to another until you know how often each one charges it. On BloFin's gold contracts specifically, the 4-hour cadence means six smaller settlements a day rather than three. Each individual charge tends to be smaller, but they arrive twice as often, so the running cost over a multi-day hold works out on the same order either way. A more frequent cadence also nudges the perpetual back toward its reference more often, which is the whole point of the mechanism. The gold products BloFin lists carry this cadence on its own listing documentation (source: BloFin Help Center: BloFin Futures to List XAUUSDT).
Why XAUTUSDT and XAUUSDT can carry different funding
The two gold perpetuals can show different funding at the same moment because each one's rate tracks the premium or discount to its own reference, and those references are not the same thing. XAUTUSDT is priced against the Tether Gold (XAUT) token's own market. XAUUSDT is priced against a spot XAU gold index. Funding follows whichever reference each contract uses.
Think about what the premium index is measuring in each case. For XAUUSDT, it is the gap between the perpetual and the spot gold index. For XAUTUSDT, it is the gap between the perpetual and the XAUT token's price. The XAUT token can itself trade at a premium or discount to spot gold, driven by the token's own supply and demand. That token-level movement feeds into XAUTUSDT's premium index but not XAUUSDT's. So on a day when XAUT is running hot relative to spot gold, the two contracts can carry meaningfully different funding, even though both say "gold" in the ticker.
For a concrete sense of it, picture spot gold flat on the day while demand to hold XAUT specifically picks up, nudging the token to a small premium over spot. XAUTUSDT's premium index feels that token premium, so its funding leans positive, while XAUUSDT, tracking the spot index, barely moves. A trader long XAUTUSDT could be paying funding into a flat gold tape purely because of token-side demand. For a trader, the practical takeaway is narrow but useful. If you are choosing between the two contracts, funding is one of the inputs that can differ, alongside what each one actually tracks. This guide covers only the funding slice of that difference; the full side-by-side of the two contracts, including price construction and which to pick, is its own topic under XAUTUSDT vs XAUUSDT.
What funding actually costs over a held position
Funding cost is your position's notional value times the rate, charged at each settlement you hold through. Over several settlements it compounds into a real number, so it is worth estimating before you open a position you plan to keep. The rate itself moves continuously, so the figures below are illustrative round numbers to show the method, not live quotes.
Assume you hold a $10,000 gold-perpetual position, and the funding rate is a flat 0.01% per 4-hour settlement, and you are on the side that pays. Here is the arithmetic:
One settlement: $10,000 x 0.01% = $1.00
Per day (6 x 4h): $1.00 x 6 settlements = $6.00
Over 3 days: $6.00 x 3 = $18.00
So a $10,000 position at that illustrative rate costs about $6 a day, or roughly $18 across three days, paid to the traders on the other side. If the rate were negative and you were on the paying-less side, the same math would run in your favor and you would receive it instead. Two things make this matter in practice. First, the cost scales with notional, so leverage magnifies it: a $10,000 position opened with $1,000 of margin still pays funding on the full $10,000, not on the $1,000. Second, it accrues the whole time the position is open, independent of whether gold's price moved. On a position held for a week, funding can quietly become one of the larger line items in the trade, which is a different cost from the interest you would pay borrowing to trade on margin trading, where the charge is a one-directional interest cost rather than a two-sided transfer.
How gold-perp funding behaves around events and off-hours
Gold-perp funding typically moves most around scheduled macro events and during thin off-hours windows. Both push the perpetual's price away from its reference, which is what the premium index picks up. A rate decision, a hot inflation print, or a geopolitical shock sends traders to one side of the book, and the resulting premium shows up in funding.
The mechanics are the same ones from the formula above, just under stress. When a macro headline lands and traders pile into longs, the perpetual pushes above its gold reference, the premium index turns positive, and funding rises so that holding a long costs more and taking the short side pays more. That is the mechanism doing its job, pulling the price back toward gold. A sharp positive spike right after a rate decision, for instance, usually says the crowd rushed long faster than arbitrage could pull the perpetual back, and it often fades over the next few settlements as balance returns. A rate that stays elevated across many settlements is a different signal from one that spikes and decays within a single day. Off-hours are the mirror image. When the underlying gold market is quiet and liquidity thins out, the reference itself can move less and the index behind a gold perpetual can behave differently than during active hours, so funding readings in those windows deserve a second look before you assume they will persist. Reading funding alongside open interest is its own skill, covered in funding and open interest signals, and it becomes most useful precisely around these event windows.
None of this is unique to any single contract type. It follows from gold having a reference price that itself reacts to macro conditions, which is part of what makes a gold perpetual behave differently from a pure crypto one and closer to how perpetuals vs futures behave on any macro-sensitive underlying.
How to check and manage funding before you trade
The most useful habit is to check the current funding rate and its cadence before you open a position, then decide whether the expected cost fits your holding horizon. Funding is only charged while you hold across a settlement time, so it is a real cost for a multi-day hold but a non-issue for a trade closed within one interval.
A few practical points follow from how the mechanism works:
Check the live rate and the next settlement time on the contract's own page before opening. The rate you saw yesterday is not the rate you will pay today.
Estimate the cost for your intended holding period using notional times rate times the number of settlements you expect to hold through, the same arithmetic as the worked example above.
Remember that funding is charged on notional, not margin, so raising leverage raises the funding cost in absolute terms even though your margin stays the same.
If you do not want to pay a settlement, closing the position before the settlement time avoids that specific charge entirely, since funding only applies to positions open at the settlement time.
For the mechanics of actually placing and sizing the trade itself, order types and position setup, that ground is covered in the BloFin Futures guide rather than repeated here. And for the bigger question of where gold fits against crypto as a holding in the first place, that sits in Bitcoin vs Gold.
Frequently asked questions
Does funding go to BloFin, or to other traders?
To other traders. Funding is a transfer between the long and short sides of the same contract, not a fee the exchange collects. When the rate is positive, longs pay shorts; when it is negative, shorts pay longs. The exchange sets and settles the rate through the funding mechanism, but it is not the counterparty receiving the payment, which is what makes funding different from a trading fee.
If I close my gold position before the funding time, do I still pay?
No. Funding is only charged on positions open at the settlement time, and it is not pro-rated for how long you held within the interval. Close one minute before a settlement and that charge does not apply; hold five minutes across it and the full charge does. This is why very short-term traders can sometimes avoid funding entirely, while anyone open across one of the six daily settlement times on a BloFin gold perpetual pays or receives it in full.
Why is my gold-perp funding different from another exchange's?
Two reasons. First, cadence differs: BloFin settles gold-perp funding every 4 hours, while some venues settle every 8, so a rate is not comparable until you know the interval it is charged over. Second, each exchange computes its own premium index from its own order book and reference, so the rates themselves differ. Always compare rates on the same time basis before drawing a conclusion.
Can funding cost more than my trading fees?
It can, on a position held long enough. Trading fees are paid once on entry and once on exit. Funding is paid at every settlement you hold through, so it accrues with time. On a position held for several days through a steady positive rate, the total funding can exceed the round-trip trading fees. On a quick in-and-out trade, the fees are usually the bigger cost instead.
Is funding the same on XAUTUSDT and XAUUSDT?
Not necessarily, so check the specific contract you are trading rather than assuming. Each contract's funding tracks the premium or discount to its own reference: XAUTUSDT to the Tether Gold token's market, XAUUSDT to a spot gold index. The two usually sit close, but on a day when the XAUT token runs at a notable premium or discount to spot, their funding can diverge, so the rate on one is not a reliable proxy for the other.
Does funding mean I should not hold a gold perp long-term?
Not by itself, but it is a cost to plan for. A perpetual has no expiry, so you can hold it indefinitely, but funding accrues the entire time. For a long hold, estimate the running funding cost up front and weigh it against your thesis. Some traders accept steady funding as the price of leverage and flexibility; others prefer an instrument without a recurring carry for very long horizons. This is a cost decision, not financial advice.
Written by the BloFin Academy team, with AI-assisted drafting. Updated July 2026. Primary sources include BloFin's own futures funding-rate documentation and gold contract listing, plus perpetual-funding references from Investopedia, Hyperliquid, BitMEX, and Spark. All facts independently verified against cited documentation.
This article is educational content, not financial advice. Trading gold perpetual contracts with leverage carries risk of loss beyond your initial margin, and funding costs accrue for as long as a position is held. Consider your own risk tolerance and consult a qualified professional before opening a position.