BTC Carry Spread

What is the BTC carry spread?

The gap between two ways a trader can collect annualized yield on Bitcoin derivatives: shorting a perpetual future against spot (collecting funding, when positive) versus shorting the nearest quarterly future against spot (collecting the futures basis). This page combines both already-tracked rates into the one comparison a derivatives desk actually makes before choosing which structure to run.

Why would the two carry sources diverge?

Perpetual funding resets every 8 hours based on short-term positioning and can swing quickly; the quarterly basis reflects a fixed-date contract’s premium to spot and moves more slowly. A wide spread between them means the two markets are pricing carry differently right now — not that one is "wrong."

How is this different from the Funding Rate or Futures Basis tools?

Those two tools each show one side of the equation on its own — live funding rate, and the quarterly futures premium. This page derives the single spread between them so you don’t have to hold both numbers in your head and subtract them yourself.

Is this a trading signal?

No — it describes the current relationship between two observed derivatives rates, not a forecast or a recommendation to run either carry trade. Real-world execution (borrow costs, exchange risk, margin requirements) is not modeled here. Treat it as descriptive context, not advice.