GMTrade vs Lighter Funding Arbitrage

26 shared markets · net of estimated fees · updated every few minutes

GMTrade and Lighter both quote 26 of the same perpetual markets, so a delta-neutral position can be split across the two and collect the difference in their funding. The widest spread on a market with real depth is BNB — long GMTrade / short Lighter at 26.3% net APR — but the median across all shared markets is 6.4%, which is the number worth planning around.

26
shared markets
26.3%
best net APR · ≥$1M vol
6.4%
median net APR
21
markets ≥5% net APR
13
with ≥$1M lower-leg volume

GMTrade / Lighter spreads by market

top 25 by net APR
MarketLongShortGross APRNet APR7d avg24h vol · lower leg
WLFILighterGMTrade49.9%43.8%-5.9%$110K
BNBGMTradeLighter30.6%26.3%+10.4%$3.2M
VVVGMTradeLighter30.6%25.4%+19.0%$649K
MSTRLighterGMTrade19.5%15.4%+10.6%$629K
WLDGMTradeLighter18.5%13.5%+10.6%$729K
HYPEGMTradeLighter10.5%7.2%+2.7%$76K
BTCGMTradeLighter10.5%7.0%+8.9%$360.8M
ETHGMTradeLighter10.5%6.9%+8.2%$111.4M
ZECGMTradeLighter10.5%6.8%+15.8%$14.8M
XRPGMTradeLighter10.5%6.7%+8.4%$3.5M
AVAXGMTradeLighter10.5%6.7%+5.6%$304K
TRUMPGMTradeLighter10.5%6.6%+9.2%$863K
SOLGMTradeLighter10.1%6.6%+3.8%$29.0M
DOGEGMTradeLighter10.5%6.2%+9.9%$639K
TAOGMTradeLighter10.5%6.0%+8.3%$1.0M
UNIGMTradeLighter10.5%5.9%+9.6%$1.4M
ADAGMTradeLighter10.5%5.7%+1.6%$393K
AAVEGMTradeLighter10.5%5.4%-2.3%$220K
XLMGMTradeLighter10.5%5.1%+9.8%$222K
ENAGMTradeLighter9.2%5.1%+6.7%$1.7M
SUIGMTradeLighter9.6%5.0%+9.5%$1.1M
PUMPGMTradeLighter9.1%5.0%+25.9%$6.4M
DOTGMTradeLighter10.3%4.9%+1.6%$231K
LITGMTradeLighter7.6%3.8%-0.6%$36.5M
ONDOGMTradeLighter8.5%2.6%+9.0%$412K

Net APR subtracts entry and exit fees, both legs' bid/ask spread and estimated slippage from the gross funding spread. The 7-day average is historical gross funding for the same pair: a current rate close to it suggests the spread has persisted, one far above it is usually a spike that will decay.

Which venue is the long leg

24
markets long on GMTrade
2
markets long on Lighter
5
markets ≥10% net APR

The long leg is whichever venue currently prices funding lower for that market — it is a property of the market, not of the exchange, and it flips as rates move.

GMTrade vs Lighter — FAQ

How many markets can you arbitrage between GMTrade and Lighter?

26 perpetual markets are quoted on both GMTrade and Lighter right now. 21 of them show a net spread of at least 5% APR after estimated fees, and 13 have at least $1M of 24h volume on the smaller leg.

What is the best GMTrade / Lighter funding spread right now?

BNB: long GMTrade and short Lighter for about 26.3% net APR after estimated fees, counting only markets with at least $1M of 24h volume on the smaller leg. The median across all 26 shared markets is 6.4%, so the top of the list is not typical.

Which side pays on the GMTrade / Lighter pair?

It varies by market: GMTrade is the long (funding-receiving) leg in 24 of the shared markets and Lighter in the other 2. The direction is set per market by which venue currently prices funding lower.

Trading the GMTrade / Lighter spread

The trade is one position split across two venues: long the exchange paying the more negative funding, short the one paying the more positive, in the same size. Direction risk is largely offset, and the position earns the funding difference each interval. What limits it is not the headline APR but the smaller leg's liquidity, the fees on both sides, and how long the spread survives — funding decays and flips, often within hours. Per-market detail, including a backtest, is on each market's funding page; the full calculation is in the methodology.

Venue detail: GMTrade funding rates · Lighter funding rates

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