Separate Funding Estimates from Settled Funding Records
By DX Research Group · · Market data
An illustrative rate change shows why agent features and account funding cash flows need different data records.
Keep funding estimates, finalized interval rates, and account settlement receipts in different records. A changing estimate can be useful to an agent considering a position. Replacing that earlier estimate with the eventual settlement rate gives a historical replay information that arrived later. We would preserve the feature the agent actually saw and reconcile the account from its actual receipt.
Hyperliquid's funding documentation describes hourly payments and oracle-price conversion. Its perpetuals info endpoints expose current context and user funding history. These surfaces answer different research questions.
A prediction changes before payment
This synthetic example assumes a long position of 2 units, an illustrative oracle price of $1,000 at settlement, and decimal rates expressed per payment interval. We hold size and conversion price fixed solely to isolate the rate difference.
| Record | Rate | Long's implied payment |
|---|---|---|
| Estimate available to decision | 0.0001 | $0.20 |
| Later settled interval | 0.0003 | $0.60 |
| Account receipt in fixture | 0.0003 | $0.60 debit |
The calculations are 2 × 1,000 × 0.0001 = 0.20 and 2 × 1,000 × 0.0003 = 0.60. A replay that substitutes the final rate triples the carrying-cost signal in the original decision. An account summary that retains the estimate understates the observed debit by $0.40.
The estimate is a forecast-like input, even if it came directly from a venue. The settlement is an outcome. A field named simply funding hides that distinction and encourages accidental substitution.
Bind the estimate to the interval it concerns
Store the estimate's observation record, target interval, rate unit, and source field. Preserve each update when it changes enough to affect the feature or reproduce a decision. The final rate should reference its interval and publication evidence. The user receipt additionally references the account, position quantity convention, and signed amount.
Where an API supplies predictions for several venues, retain the venue and forecast horizon. Converting an eight-hour quote into an hourly comparison is an explicit transformation. Preserve the original value and specify whether linear normalization is being used as an approximation.
Reconcile without rewriting the earlier turn
Build the historical prompt from the saved estimate. Build the account ledger from actual funding receipts, deduplicated by their documented economic identity. If a receipt differs from an independently computed expectation, inspect position changes, conversion prices, and settlement timing before calling it an error.
Our funding cash-flow note covers ledger reconciliation; this note defines the upstream feature boundary. The paper-engine discussion explains why omitted carrying costs change evidence scope. A proposed test would force the rate revision above and assert both the original prompt value and the final debit. It would establish separation of input and outcome data, with market skill and economic benefit remaining separate evaluations.