Funding Farming Time-Based Strategy — User Guide

Overview

The Funding Farming Time-Based Strategy allows you to automatically open and close trades around funding rate events. This strategy helps capture funding payments with minimal market exposure by trading at precise times relative to funding periods.

You can configure the system to:

1. Open trades before a funding event (e.g., 60 minutes before)
2. Close trades shortly after funding is awarded (e.g., 10 minutes after)
3. Use UTC time zones for consistent operation across exchanges (00:00, 08:00, 16:00 UTC)

⚙️ Configuration

All configuration values are defined under the funding_farming_settings section in your YAML settings file.

funding_farming_settings:
  is_enabled: true
  max_open_trades: 5
  max_symbols_to_pick: 10
  funding_rate_threshold: 0.0003  # 0.03% minimum
  spot_order_size: 100.0
  future_order_size: 100.0
  liquidation_percent: 5.0

  # Time-based controls
  open_trade_before: 60    # Open trades 60 minutes before funding time
  close_trade_after: 10    # Close trades 10 minutes after funding is paid

🧭 Common Configuration Scenarios

Example Settings

1. Precision Timing

open_trade_before: 60
close_trade_after: 10

Opens: 23:00, 07:00, 15:00 UTC
Closes: 00:10, 08:10, 16:10 UTC

2. Quick Entry/Exit

open_trade_before: 15
close_trade_after: 5

Opens: 23:45, 07:45, 15:45 UTC
Closes: 00:05, 08:05, 16:05 UTC

3. Always Trading

open_trade_before: 0
close_trade_after: 0

Opens anytime when funding rate meets threshold
No auto-close timing restriction

4. Extended Window

open_trade_before: 120
close_trade_after: 30

Opens: 22:00, 06:00, 14:00 UTC
Closes: 00:30, 08:30, 16:30 UTC

🔄 How It Works

1. Opening Positions

Funding times occur three times per day: 00:00, 08:00, and 16:00 UTC.
The system starts monitoring before each funding event and only opens trades within the time window defined by open_trade_before.

Example: For open_trade_before: 60, trades open between 23:00–00:00 UTC.

2. Closing Positions

After funding is awarded, the system holds positions for the duration defined by close_trade_after. It then automatically closes positions when the delay expires.

3. Check Intervals

📋 Log Examples

✅ Opening window active: 45 minutes until funding at 16:00 UTC
🎯 Matched BTCUSDT (Funding: 0.0850%)
✅ Position opened for BTCUSDT at 15:15 UTC

⏳ Not in opening window. Next window opens in 85 minutes at 15:00 UTC.

📍 Monitoring active positions...
⚠️ Position BTCUSDT closing after funding (12 minutes passed)
✅ Position closed successfully.

🛡️ Risk Management

1. Funding Rate Threshold – Trades only if rate meets the minimum
2. Liquidation Protection – Closes trades approaching liquidation
3. Spread Validation – Avoids wide bid-ask spreads
4. Price Movement Checks – Warns on sudden volatility
5. Max Trade Limit – Respects configured trade limits

⏱️ Close Priority Order

1. ✅ Time-based closure (funding + delay)
2. ⚠️ Funding rate drops below threshold
3. 🚨 Approaching liquidation
4. ⚡ Large market movement (warning only)

💡 Benefits

Advantages

• Predictable trading schedule
• Reduced market exposure
• Guaranteed funding capture
• Fully automated cycles
• Multiple daily opportunities

Considerations

• May miss trades in short windows
• Possible funding update delays
• Higher competition during funding
• Potential slippage near funding time

✅ Best Practices

• Start with wider time windows (60–120 minutes)
• Monitor logs to confirm accurate timing
• Add 10–15 min buffer on slow exchanges
• Verify funding payments after each cycle
• Use limit/post-only orders to reduce fees
• Start small when testing strategy

🧩 Troubleshooting

🕓 Example Timeline

Settings:
open_trade_before: 60
close_trade_after: 10

Next window begins at 07:00 UTC for the 08:00 UTC funding.

📊 Performance Tracking

🚀 Advanced Configuration

Dynamic Timing (Planned Feature)

• Adjusts based on funding rate magnitude
• Adapts to market volatility
• Uses historical slippage data
• Accounts for exchange latency

Multi-Exchange Strategy

• Run across multiple exchanges with different funding times
• Capture more daily opportunities
• Reduce risk through diversification