Gold A contract that tracks changes in an asset price without a fixed expiry date. Trading requires collateral; a position may be forcibly closed if collateral is insufficient. Periodic payments between the two sides are called funding. let you open a long position for a rise in the gold price or a short position for a fall. While the position stays open, traders exchange Periodic payments between buyers and sellers of perpetual futures. Buyers pay when the rate is positive; sellers pay when it is negative. This mechanism keeps the contract price closer to the underlying asset price. payments. Longs pay when the funding rate is positive; shorts pay when it is negative. Your funding cost depends on the dollar size of the position, its direction and each hourly rate.
Compare gold funding costs
Enter a dollar position size and choose long or short. The table shows Lighter's last applied hourly rate and Extended's current estimate. A seven-day calculation appears for each venue with all 168 hourly payments available. Trading fees appear separately.
Gold: funding and position costs
Choose a position size and direction. Compare funding payments and base trading fees on Lighter and Extended.
Lighter
XAUSpot gold · Pyth Pro
- Last hourly settlement
- You pay $0.01 15.10 18:00 MSK
- 24 hours at the same rate
- You pay $0.29
- Funding over 7 full days
- You pay $1.64 08.10 — 14.10 · constant position size
Entry and exit fees
- Maker0% per trade
- $0.00
- Taker0% per trade
- $0.00
Standard: market-order entry and exit
Trading 24/7
Next settlement: 15.10 19:00 MSK
Data updated:
Extended
XAU-USDSpot gold · RedStone / Massive
- Next hour at the current rate
- You pay $0.004 15.10 18:00 MSK
- 24 hours at the same rate
- You pay $0.10
- Funding over 7 full days
- You pay $1.07 08.10 — 14.10 · constant position size
Entry and exit fees
- Maker0% per trade
- $0.00
- Taker0.01% per trade
- $0.20
Base RWA fee: market-order entry and exit
Trading 24/7
Next settlement: 15.10 19:00 MSK
Data updated:
Why longs and shorts pay funding
A perpetual future has no expiry date. Funding helps keep its price close to the underlying asset by making one side pay the other. These payments create a cash flow while the position is open, alongside its gain or loss from the gold price moving.
Lighter and Extended apply funding each hour. At the payment time, a positive rate means longs pay shorts; a negative rate means shorts pay longs. Rates change with the market, so an estimate for the current hour serves a different purpose from a history of completed payments.
Position size means its full dollar value, or notional. For a $1,000 position backed by $200 of collateral, funding uses $1,000. Leverage lets you hold a larger position relative to collateral; it does not reduce the funding base.
Less collateral leaves less room for price movements and funding charges. The venue can liquidate the position when the remaining funds no longer meet its maintenance requirement.
The XAU contracts being compared
| Venue | Contract | Underlying unit | External price source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lighter | XAU | One troy ounce of gold | Pyth Pro, Metal.XAU/USD |
| Extended | XAU-USD | One troy ounce of gold | RedStone, Massive spot prices with fallbacks |
Both contracts quote gold in dollars and settle in USDC. The perps trade around the clock, while the external gold market has its own hours. Outside the external source's hours, each venue uses its own pricing mechanism. Round-the-clock trading therefore differs from a continuous stream of fresh external-market quotes.
The underlying units are defined in the Lighter specifications and Extended methodology. Our funding comparison uses the same dollar position size on each venue.
A $1,000 position: worked example
Suppose the hourly rate is +0.01%: $1,000 × 0.01 ÷ 100 = $0.10. The long pays $0.10 for that hour and the short receives $0.10. At −0.01%, the payment changes direction.
If +0.01% held for all 24 hours, the long would pay $2.40. That is an estimate at an unchanged rate. The historical calculation instead adds the hourly rates that were actually applied.
Suppose those rates total +0.12% over seven days. At a constant $1,000 notional, the result is −$1.20 for the long and +$1.20 for the short. The model keeps the dollar amount fixed: holding a fixed quantity of gold would produce a changing dollar value as gold moves. Lighter uses its index price, linked to external gold prices; Extended uses mark price, which values the position. Each venue uses that price to calculate the funding payment base.
Add opening and closing trading fees separately. Hypothetical fees of 0.01% on entry and 0.01% on exit, each on $1,000, add $0.20. The trade's result also includes the difference between entry and exit prices. That belongs to trading profit or loss, rather than funding. Current fee schedules appear in the comparison above.
XAU perps, PAXG and XAUT
An XAU perp gives you a long or short position in gold's price with recurring funding. PAXG and XAUT are tokens backed by physical gold: each represents one troy ounce under the issuer's terms. A regular spot purchase of the token has no funding payments.
For holding tokenized gold, see the terms for PAXG or Tether Gold. For a long or short position, compare hourly funding and trading fees in the XAU calculator. Our funding guide explains the payment mechanism in more detail.