What is the basis?

In crypto, basis usually means the perp or futures price minus spot. Say SOL trades at $150.00 on spot and $150.30 on the perp (made-up prices). That is a basis of $0.30, or 0.2 percent. A positive basis is a premium, often called contango. A negative one is a discount, or backwardation.

Dated futures give basis an endpoint. A future converges to spot by expiry, so a 2 percent basis on a three-month contract works out to roughly 8 percent a year. That convergence is the whole cash-and-carry trade. Perps never expire, so funding keeps their basis in check instead, and a persistent premium usually comes with positive funding.

Basis also shows where demand sits. A token trading rich on a perp venue against its on-chain spot price means traders are paying up for leveraged longs there. A sudden negative basis often means hedgers or short sellers are crowding into the perp.

The usual trap is bad data. Spot and perp prices come from different venues, so a small basis can be nothing more than a stale quote or a thin pool. Check the source and the timestamp of both prices before reading anything into it.

Also called: perp basis, futures basis, spot-perp spread.

Solana edge compares each asset's Hyperliquid perp mark with its deepest Solana spot pair and shows the basis, funding APR and what share of the two venues' 24h volume happens on Solana. Sort by the widest basis to see the outliers first. A Price alert can fire when the basis for a token in that feed moves above or below your threshold.

• Solana edge
• Price alert

• Cash-and-carry trade
• Funding rate
• Mark price
• Perpetual futures