DeFi

Funding Rate

A periodic payment exchanged between holders of long and short perpetual contract positions to keep the perp price anchored to the spot price. When the perp trades above spot (positive funding), longs pay shorts; when below spot (negative funding), shorts pay longs. Funding is typically settled every hour on Solana perps platforms like Drift and Jupiter Perps. High funding rates create arbitrage opportunities.

IDfunding-rate

Plain meaning

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A periodic payment exchanged between holders of long and short perpetual contract positions to keep the perp price anchored to the spot price. When the perp trades above spot (positive funding), longs pay shorts; when below spot (negative funding), shorts pay longs. Funding is typically settled every hour on Solana perps platforms like Drift and Jupiter Perps. High funding rates create arbitrage opportunities.

Mental model

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Think of it as a market mechanic used to price, route, or move capital through liquidity apps.

Technical context

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AMMs, routing, liquidity, lending, and trading infrastructure.

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Funding Rate (funding-rate)
Category: DeFi
Definition: A periodic payment exchanged between holders of long and short perpetual contract positions to keep the perp price anchored to the spot price. When the perp trades above spot (positive funding), longs pay shorts; when below spot (negative funding), shorts pay longs. Funding is typically settled every hour on Solana perps platforms like Drift and Jupiter Perps. High funding rates create arbitrage opportunities.
Related: Perpetuals (Perps), Drift Protocol, Mark Price
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Branch

Perpetuals (Perps)

Derivatives contracts that track an asset's price without expiration, enabling leveraged long/short positions. On Solana, Drift Protocol and Jupiter Perps are the leading perps platforms. Traders deposit collateral and open positions at up to 10-100x leverage. Funding rates keep the contract price aligned with the spot price.

Branch

Drift Protocol

A decentralized perpetuals and spot exchange on Solana featuring a hybrid order book + AMM model (DLOB). Drift offers up to 20x leverage on perpetual contracts, spot margin trading, and lending/borrowing. Its backstop AMM provides liquidity when the order book is thin. Drift also offers prediction markets and a BET token.

Branch

Mark Price

The fair value price used by perpetual contract platforms to calculate unrealized PnL and trigger liquidations. Mark price is typically derived from a combination of the oracle index price and the order book or AMM mid-price, weighted to resist manipulation. Using mark price instead of last traded price prevents liquidation hunting through short-lived price spikes on thin markets.

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DeFi

Perpetuals (Perps)

Derivatives contracts that track an asset's price without expiration, enabling leveraged long/short positions. On Solana, Drift Protocol and Jupiter Perps are the leading perps platforms. Traders deposit collateral and open positions at up to 10-100x leverage. Funding rates keep the contract price aligned with the spot price.

DeFi

Drift Protocol

A decentralized perpetuals and spot exchange on Solana featuring a hybrid order book + AMM model (DLOB). Drift offers up to 20x leverage on perpetual contracts, spot margin trading, and lending/borrowing. Its backstop AMM provides liquidity when the order book is thin. Drift also offers prediction markets and a BET token.

DeFi

Mark Price

The fair value price used by perpetual contract platforms to calculate unrealized PnL and trigger liquidations. Mark price is typically derived from a combination of the oracle index price and the order book or AMM mid-price, weighted to resist manipulation. Using mark price instead of last traded price prevents liquidation hunting through short-lived price spikes on thin markets.

DeFi

Graduation

The process by which a token launched on a bonding curve platform like Pump.fun migrates to a standard DEX liquidity pool after reaching a predefined market cap threshold (typically ~$69K on Pump.fun). At graduation, the bonding curve liquidity is deposited into a Raydium or PumpSwap pool, enabling open market trading. Graduation signals initial market validation of a token launch.

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DeFicoupon-rate

Coupon Rate

Annual interest rate paid by a bond issuer as percentage of face value. A 5% coupon on $1,000 bond pays $50/year. In tokenized bonds, coupon payments are automated as on-chain distributions. T-bills are zero-coupon (purchased at discount, redeemed at par).

DeFiinterest-rate-model

Interest Rate Model

The algorithm a lending protocol uses to determine borrow and supply interest rates based on pool utilization. Most Solana lending protocols use a kinked (piecewise linear) model with a gentle slope below optimal utilization and a steep slope above it, creating urgency to repay when liquidity becomes scarce. Parameters include base rate, optimal utilization point, and slope values for each segment.

DeFiutilization-rate

Utilization Rate

The percentage of total deposited assets currently borrowed in a lending protocol, calculated as total borrows divided by total deposits. Utilization rate is the primary input to interest rate models: higher utilization drives up borrow rates to incentivize repayment and attract new deposits. Most Solana lending protocols (Kamino, MarginFi) target an optimal utilization of 70-90%, with rates spiking sharply above this threshold.

Related terms

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DeFiperpetuals

Perpetuals (Perps)

Derivatives contracts that track an asset's price without expiration, enabling leveraged long/short positions. On Solana, Drift Protocol and Jupiter Perps are the leading perps platforms. Traders deposit collateral and open positions at up to 10-100x leverage. Funding rates keep the contract price aligned with the spot price.

DeFidrift

Drift Protocol

A decentralized perpetuals and spot exchange on Solana featuring a hybrid order book + AMM model (DLOB). Drift offers up to 20x leverage on perpetual contracts, spot margin trading, and lending/borrowing. Its backstop AMM provides liquidity when the order book is thin. Drift also offers prediction markets and a BET token.

DeFimark-price

Mark Price

The fair value price used by perpetual contract platforms to calculate unrealized PnL and trigger liquidations. Mark price is typically derived from a combination of the oracle index price and the order book or AMM mid-price, weighted to resist manipulation. Using mark price instead of last traded price prevents liquidation hunting through short-lived price spikes on thin markets.

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DeFi

AMM (Automated Market Maker)

A protocol that enables token swaps using algorithmic pricing against pooled liquidity instead of matching individual buyers and sellers. AMMs use mathematical formulas (typically constant product x*y=k) to determine prices based on the ratio of tokens in a liquidity pool. On Solana, major AMMs include Raydium, Orca, and Meteora.

DeFi

CLMM (Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker)

An AMM design where liquidity providers concentrate their capital within specific price ranges instead of across the full 0-to-infinity range. CLMMs dramatically improve capital efficiency—LPs earn more fees per dollar deposited within their active range. If the price moves outside the range, the position becomes inactive. Orca Whirlpools and Raydium CLMM are leading implementations on Solana.

DeFi

Liquidity Pool

A smart-contract-held reserve of two or more tokens that enables trading via an AMM. Users deposit token pairs in specified ratios to become liquidity providers and earn trading fees. Pools are identified by their token pair and fee tier. Pool depth (total value locked) determines price impact for trades.

DeFi

LP Token

A token issued to liquidity providers representing their proportional share of a pool's reserves and accrued fees. LP tokens can be burned to withdraw the underlying assets. The value of LP tokens changes as the pool's token ratios shift and fees accumulate. LP tokens are often stakeable in yield farming programs for additional rewards.