Analysis of Gold Token Perpetual Contract Market Reveals Higher Funding Rates

Ethena has released an analysis on the arbitrage opportunities in the perpetual contract market for gold tokens, specifically PAXG and XAUT. According to Odaily, data from the past twelve months shows that the annualized funding rate for PAXG was 5.8% and for XAUT was 12.4%, both significantly higher than the average rates for BTC and ETH, which were 5.2% and 4.1% respectively. The daily volatility of gold funding rates is higher than that of cryptocurrencies due to lower market trading volumes. However, gold funding rates were positive 82% to 89% of the time, similar to BTC at 88% and ETH at 85%. Ethena also noted that the funding rates for gold and cryptocurrencies are largely uncorrelated. When cryptocurrency funding rates are compressed, gold funding rates tend to remain stable or increase. Including gold perpetual contracts in a spot and short position arbitrage strategy can enhance returns and reduce volatility.