Rho Labs, the leading developer of cryptonative rates trading infrastructure, today announces the launch of the Rho Funding Index and Rho Funding Futures — the market’s first tradable futures contracts built on an aggregated, cross-exchange funding rate benchmark for BTC and ETH perpetuals.
Yield generation has become a defining priority in crypto markets. Basis and carry trading on perpetual futures are now the primary source of leveraged yield for professional trading firms and institutions, with funding payments serving as the effective reference cost of leverage for BTC and ETH. Until now, participants have had to navigate differing rates across multiple venues.
Rho Funding Futures provide an efficient single-instrument solution. Priced directly from the Rho Funding Index — an open-interest-weighted average of funding rates from Binance, Bybit, and OKX (which together account for 65–75% of global BTC and ETH perpetual open interest) — traders can now take directional positions, hedge cross-exchange funding payments, and execute streamlined basis and carry strategies with greater efficiency.
The Rho Funding Index also serves as an effective real-time sentiment indicator, delivering a single consolidated rate that reflects overall positioning and bias across the broader crypto perpetuals market.
Key Highlights
- •Take direct exposure to aggregated BTC and ETH funding rate dynamics
- •Simplify basis trading by hedging against a single, comprehensive benchmark
- •Protect long perp positions from volatile funding payments across multiple exchanges
- •Monitor the Rho Funding Index as a real-time, market-wide gauge of leveraged sentiment and positioning in crypto perpetuals
Rho Funding Index and Futures Methodology
The Rho Funding Index is calculated using the prevailing 8-hour funding rates from Binance, Bybit, and OKX for BTCUSDT and ETHUSDT perpetual contracts, weighted by each venue’s share of open interest. The resulting BTC and ETH indices update every 8 hours in line with exchange funding cycles. Rho Funding Futures trade on Rho X via an orderbook, with the corresponding Rho Funding Index used for mark-to-market P&L and final valuation at expiry.
Perpetual funding rates have emerged as the benchmark yield in crypto markets, but until now traders have lacked a unified, tradable way to manage this exposure effectively. Rho Funding Futures and the Rho Funding Index address precisely this need — streamlining yield generation strategies and delivering a consolidated view of market sentiment. This launch marks another major step in building Rho X into the industry’s most comprehensive on-chain rates trading platform.
Alex Ryvkin, Founder and CEO of Rho Labs
About Rho Labs
Rho Labs is the developer of Rho Protocol, the world’s first cryptonative rates trading market, launched in 2024. This year, the company launched Rho X, a hybrid interest rates DEX that combines professional-grade trading infrastructure with user funds secured on Ethereum Mainnet. Rho X offers trading across multiple markets, including BTC and ETH funding rates, Ethereum staking rates, and stablecoin yields. Rho Labs is building the future of on-chain trading.