xStocks funding & delta-neutral point farming
Tokenized stocks add a twist to funding arbitrage: you can hold a real-equity token on spot, short its perpetual, and collect funding while price risk cancels — often with incentive points stacked on top. This guide covers how the trade works, where the spot leg is cheapest, and the risks that are specific to xStocks.
What are xStocks?
xStocks are tokenized equities issued by Backed — on-chain tokens such as AAPLx, TSLAx or NVDAx, each backed 1:1 by the real share and tracking its price. The token settles on-chain and trades around the clock across Solana and a handful of centralized venues, so you get equity exposure without a brokerage and without waiting for the opening bell. That 24/7 tradability is exactly what makes a funding market — and an arbitrage — possible.
The delta-neutral xStocks trade
It is spot-perp cash-and-carry, applied to a stock. You buy the tokenized share on spot and short its perpetual future. Long the token and short the perp cancel on price, so a move in the underlying no longer helps or hurts you — what you keep is the funding the short perp pays out. When the perp trades rich to the token (positive funding), shorts get paid, and the delta-neutral holder collects it continuously.
Point farming — the extra layer
The reason xStocks are interesting beyond plain funding is incentives. Protocols that want liquidity in these tokens periodically run campaigns that reward holding or supplying xStocks with points or tokens. If you already hold the spot leg of a delta-neutral position, those rewards stack on top of the funding you collect — during an active campaign they can be the bigger half of the return. Campaigns start and end, so treat points as a bonus with an expiry, not a permanent yield.
Finding the cheapest spot route
The same xStock trades in more than one place — Solana DEXs and centralized venues — and the spot price, fees and depth differ across them. Because the funding edge is thin, the venue you buy the spot leg on materially changes whether the trade clears its costs. Perpia compares the spot routes and pairs each with the perp's net funding, so you enter the cheapest leg rather than the first one you find.
What differs from crypto funding arbitrage
The mechanics are the same, but three things change. First, market hours: the token and perp trade 24/7, but the underlying share only moves during exchange hours, so funding and basis can drift over nights, weekends and holidays in ways crypto never does. Second, liquidity is thinner than majors, which tightens the real size and widens slippage. Third, issuer risk: the token is a claim on the share through Backed, so you take on its peg, custody and redemption risk in addition to the usual venue and execution risk.
Risks
On top of every risk in ordinary funding arbitrage — liquidity caps, funding flips, execution slippage, venue and liquidation risk — xStocks add token-specific ones: the peg between token and share can loosen, redemption may be gated, weekend gaps can move the basis while one leg sits idle, and incentive campaigns can end abruptly, removing the points that made a thin spread worthwhile. Read the full risk disclosure, and verify every figure on the venue before trading.
How Perpia helps
Perpia's xStocks view tracks tokenized stocks against their perps in real time: net funding after fees, the cheapest spot route across chains and venues, and the delta-neutral setups worth a look — with the same honesty about size and persistence as the rest of the scanner. Browse tokenized stock funding rates, see the methodology for how the numbers are computed, or the general funding arbitrage guide for the fundamentals.
Frequently asked questions
What are xStocks?
xStocks are tokenized equities issued by Backed — on-chain tokens (like AAPLx, TSLAx, NVDAx) that each track the price of a real share and are collateralized 1:1 by it. Unlike the underlying stock, the token trades 24/7 across Solana and select centralized venues, without a brokerage account.
How is a delta-neutral xStocks trade structured?
You hold the tokenized stock on spot and short its perpetual future. The two legs cancel on price, so you no longer care which way the stock moves — your return is the funding the short perp collects, plus any incentive points on the spot leg.
What is point farming?
Some protocols run incentive campaigns that reward holding or providing liquidity in xStocks with points or tokens. When you already hold the spot leg of a delta-neutral position, those points stack on top of the funding — and can be the larger part of the return while a campaign runs.
How is this different from crypto funding arbitrage?
The token and its perp trade 24/7, but the underlying share only moves during market hours — so funding and basis can behave oddly over nights and weekends. Liquidity is thinner than major crypto, and you take on the token issuer's peg and redemption risk on top of the usual funding-arb risks.