When discussing altcoin rallies, it's hard to conclude that an increase in futures funding rates directly indicates money flowing into the spot market. According to Bybit's USDT perpetual futures explanation, the funding fee is calculated by multiplying the position value by the funding rate. If the funding rate is positive, long positions pay short positions.

I didn't pull current figures; I just used a hypothetical calculation. If the position value remains at 1,000 USDT and you pay 0.01% every settlement period for three periods, you'd pay 0.10 USDT each time for a total of 0.30 USDT. This excludes any PnL from price movements or trading fees.

This 0.30 USDT is just the funding fee accumulated to maintain that position; it's not money entering the altcoin spot market. Settlement intervals can also vary by asset, so I didn't assume that paying it three times necessarily equates to a full day's worth.

Therefore, I prefer to look at the metrics for an altcoin rally separately from the costs incurred by maintaining futures positions.