Two ways to pay for leverage
A leveraged hold always costs something — funding on a perp or basis decay on a dated future. Which is cheaper depends on your horizon and the current rates. This tool compares both as dollars and APR. Break down the perp side on the funding rate APR calculator.
Perpetual or dated future: pricing the choice
The same leveraged exposure comes in two wrappers: perpetuals charge floating funding every 8 hours; quarterly futures embed a fixed premium that decays to zero at expiry. The comparison is a rate bet — perps cost whatever funding averages over your hold; quarterlies cost the basis you paid at entry, known in advance.
Worked comparison for a 60-day hold: quarterly at a 2% premium costs exactly 2% (annualized ~12%) — locked. The perp at prevailing 0.01%/8h funding costs ~1.8% if rates hold, but bull-market funding spikes to 0.05%+ can triple that mid-hold. Quarterlies are the fixed-rate mortgage; perps the variable — cheaper on average, catastrophic in the tail.
The selection rule that falls out: for holds under two weeks or active trading, perp convenience wins (no expiry management, tighter books). For multi-month directional theses — especially in euphoric markets where funding runs hot — the quarterly's fixed carry is systematically cheaper, and the expiry date doubles as a built-in thesis deadline, which most positions could honestly use.