April 18 Funding Rate Arbitrage: 132% APY on MAVIA

The crypto market continues its steady climb with a total market capitalization of $2.70 trillion, up 2.6% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin dominance sits firm at 57.4%, reflecting a risk-on environment where select altcoins are capturing significant speculative volume. Today’s trending assets—ASTEROID, RAVE, SIREN, PENGU, OVPP, and TAO—show a distinct appetite for high-beta plays. This speculative heat is heavily reflected in the funding rates across decentralized perpetual exchanges. When momentum surges, perp premiums widen, creating lucrative windows for funding rate arbitrage and delta-neutral carry trades. By isolating the highest positive and deepest negative rates, traders can extract yield independent of market direction, capitalizing on the volatility that momentum coins like RAVE and ENA are currently generating.

The Long Premium Play: MAVIA Carry Trade

MAVIA is currently exhibiting an explosive annualized yield of 132.11%, with an 8-hour funding rate of 0.1206%. For traders looking to execute a long carry trade, this presents a textbook opportunity. The mechanics are straightforward: if you hold a long spot position in MAVIA, you can hedge your downside by opening an equal short perp position, capturing the funding rate payment directly. Alternatively, for purely directional perp traders, the 132% APY offers a massive cushion for long positions, provided you can withstand the volatility of the $0.04 mark price. Because these extreme premiums rarely last, traders must act quickly to capture the peak rate before the market rebalances and the yield compresses back to baseline levels.

Shorting Negative Rates: YZY and FTT

On the flip side, deeply negative funding rates signal oversold conditions or heavy shorting pressure, which creates an equally profitable arbitrage path. YZY is currently paying out -0.0551% per 8 hours, translating to a -60.29% annualized rate. Similarly, FTT is printing -0.0462% per 8 hours, or -50.59% annualized. Traders can execute a cash-and-carry arbitrage by purchasing YZY or FTT on the spot market and shorting the exact same amount on the perp market. By doing so, you remain delta-neutral—immune to price swings—while collecting the funding fee paid by the shorts to the longs. With YZY at $0.30 and FTT at $0.31, the capital efficiency of these trades is attractive for yield farmers seeking guaranteed cash flow over the funding epochs.

Mid-Tier Shorts and Delta-Neutral Yield

Beyond the headline rates, several mid-tier negative funding opportunities offer robust carry yields with potentially less manic price action. BLAST is yielding -0.0404% per 8 hours (-44.23% APY), while TNSR sits at -0.0293% (-32.14% APY) and DYM at -0.0172% (-18.87% APY). A diversified delta-neutral portfolio can short these perps while holding the underlying spot assets, harvesting the negative yield. BLAST’s mark price of $0.00 indicates an extremely distressed or near-zero spot asset, meaning perp premiums are heavily skewed toward shorts. TNSR and DYM, however, provide more liquid environments for larger position sizes. Consistently farming these mid-tier negative rates can compound significantly over weekly and monthly timeframes, smoothing out the PnL curve against broader market volatility.

Positive Yield Alternatives and Contrarian Shorts

For traders seeking positive carry without the extreme volatility of MAVIA, ZEREBRO and TST offer reasonable alternatives. ZEREBRO carries a positive funding rate of 0.0205% per 8 hours (22.49% APY), while TST clocks in at 0.0268% per 8 hours (29.35% APY). Additionally, PROMPT offers a steady 0.0133% per 8 hours (14.58% APY). On the negative side, ZETA is yielding -0.0218% per 8 hours (-23.82% APY) at a $0.06 mark price, creating another delta-neutral shorting opportunity. While these yields are modest compared to MAVIA's triple-digit premium, they present lower liquidation risks and more sustainable payout structures. Balancing a portfolio across high-yield and stable-yield assets is crucial for managing perp market exposure.

Executing Arbitrage Across Aggregated Venues

To maximize the profitability of these funding rate arbitrage strategies, execution speed and venue selection are paramount. Funding rates can vary significantly between different decentralized exchanges. This is where Tangerine becomes essential; by aggregating rates across Hyperliquid, Aster, Lighter, Backpack, and other perp DEXs, Tangerine ensures you always execute your carry trades at the absolute best available yield. Rather than manually checking each protocol to see if YZY or MAVIA is paying more on another venue, Tangerine routes your trades to the highest-yielding pool instantly. In fast-moving markets where funding epochs last only hours, capturing the peak rate through an aggregator is the only way to maintain a competitive edge in DeFi yield farming.