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What is a Special Settlement?

A special settlement is a one-time, scheduled cash adjustment applied to holders of a contract — separate from the regular funding rate payment. It is used to pass through corporate actions on the underlying, such as dividends or distributions, to the traders holding the perpetual future. Unlike funding rate payments, which are derived from the difference between the mark price and the underlying, a special settlement is a fixed, pre-announced amount per contract.

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Who is credited and who is debited

Each special settlement carries a single non-negative amount, the long-holder extra funding amount, quoted per contract:
  • Long holders are credited this amount per contract held.
  • Short holders are debited the same amount per contract held.
The transfer is zero-sum: the total credited to longs equals the total debited from shorts.

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When it applies

Every special settlement has a settlement time. Positions are measured as they stand at that instant — the credit or debit is based on the size you hold in the symbol at the settlement time, regardless of when you opened the position. Closing before the settlement time means you are not part of that settlement; holding through it means you are. Special settlements do not change your position size. Only your cash (USD) balance is adjusted.

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How it is delivered

A special settlement is applied through the same funding ledger as regular funding payments. Once executed, it appears in your funding transactions history alongside ordinary funding payments.

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Viewing upcoming special settlements

Scheduled special settlements are published ahead of time. When any are scheduled within the next 7 days, a dismissible banner appears at the top of the trading app listing each one — its symbol, the per-contract amount, and the date. The banner refreshes periodically; if the scheduled settlements change, it reappears so you do not miss an update. You can also query them directly. Use the Get upcoming special settlements endpoint to see what is coming and when. The endpoint accepts an optional days parameter to control how far ahead to look (defaults to 7 days, up to a maximum of 365). For each upcoming settlement it returns the symbol, the settlement time, and the per-contract long-holder amount.

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Example

A perpetual future on an equity pays a 2.00 USD per-contract dividend, scheduled as a special settlement.
  • Alice is long 100 contracts at the settlement time → credited 200 USD (100 × 2.00).
  • Bob is short 100 contracts at the settlement time → debited 200 USD (100 × 2.00).
Neither position changes size; only their USD balances are adjusted, and the two amounts net to zero.