Tokenized equity guide
The tokenized stock basis trade — and when it is not one
Buy the tokenized share, short the perpetual, collect the funding in between. The structure is real, the numbers are published on this site, and the part nobody posts is that the edge looks widest precisely when it is least worth trusting.
11 pairs · median entry edge +0.323% · 6 of 11 with a dependable carry · measured 2026-09-24 22:39 UTC
What the trade is
Cash and carry, applied to equities. You buy the tokenized share and short the perpetual future on the same name. The price exposure cancels, and what is left is the gap you entered at plus the funding that changes hands between longs and shorts for as long as you hold.
What makes the equity version newer than the crypto one is that both legs now settle on-chain: the token on Solana, the perpetual on a Hyperliquid HIP-3 venue. No brokerage account, no futures account, no wire. Whether that is an opportunity or just a structure depends entirely on three numbers.
The three numbers
- Basis — the perpetual's mark against the tokenized share. The headline gap, and the one people quote.
- Entry edge — the basis minus what you overpay on the spot leg. This is what a delta-neutral entry actually locks in, and it is the number that decides whether a trade exists at all.
- Funding — paid every settlement, annualised here, with the median over 7 days and the count of hours it spent negative. This is the return for holding, and it is the one people assume rather than check.
On the 2026-09-24 22:39 UTC snapshot the median entry edge across 11 pairs was +0.323%. HOOD was widest at +1.427%; 9 of 11 were positive at all. Every pair, with its funding history, is on the basis tracker.
When the edge is a mirage
Here is the part that decides whether any of this is useful. The US market is closed as this page was built, and that is exactly when the edges look best. Both legs are measured against the last reference price of the underlying share. When the share is not trading, that reference is hours old — so a wide edge is partly the market's opinion about where the share reopens, not a dislocation sitting there to be captured.
Today's widest, HOOD at +1.427%, is a clean example of the shape: the perpetual sits +0.675% above the token while the token itself trades −0.752% against a stale share price. Most of the edge is the second number, not the first. An edge built mostly out of a spot discount to a price that has not updated is a bet on the reopen, and a bet is a different thing from a carry.
The practical rule falls out of it: read the edge when the underlying is trading. An edge that survives the open is a real one.
Funding is not a yield
The second thing that gets assumed. Across the last 7 days, all 11 of the 11 names went negative at some point — meaning the short leg paid rather than collected. Only 6 of 11 clear the test this site will call a dependable carry: median annualised funding positive, and negative hours under a tenth of the sample.
That is why the tracker publishes the median and the negative-hour count beside the current rate. A funding number quoted at one instant tells you what this hour pays, which is close to nothing about what a week of holding would have earned. The widest swing in the current window was MSTR.
What eats the edge
- Two spreads, not one. You cross the token and the perpetual, and the edge is quoted before either.
- Your own size against the pool. The spot leg comes out of an on-chain pool: on this snapshot those ran from $240k on AMZN to $1.20M on HOOD. Size moves your entry before the hedge is on.
- The holding period. Funding accrues; the edge does not. A trade that only works if funding cooperates is a funding trade wearing an arbitrage costume.
- Names with no perp at all. SPY (no perp market), QQQ (no perp market), GLD (no perp market) — the ETFs here have no perpetual market, so the trade does not exist for them however wide their premium goes.
- Liquidation risk on the short. The legs cancel on price, not on margin. A perp position still needs collateral and still liquidates.
Educational, not advice. Everything above describes a structure and publishes what it is currently worth; it does not say anyone should trade it, and the figures move every time the data does.
Reaching both legs
The structural obstacle is mundane: the token settles on Solana and the perpetual on a HIP-3 venue, and most apps carry one or the other rather than both. Without an account that reaches both, none of the above is executable no matter how wide the edge.
One verified option
TopNod reaches the same HIP-3 perp markets shown on the tracker alongside tokenized spot, in one self-custodial account — confirmed first-hand on 2026-09-12, with region and app version still unverified. StackFi records no commercial arrangement with it.
Listed because it reaches both legs, which most apps do not. If you know another that does, tell us and it gets checked the same way and listed beside this one.
The mechanics of the spot leg — premium, depth, mint verification — are in how to buy a tokenized stock with USDC, and the issuer differences that decide which token you are even quoting are in the xStocks guide.
FAQ
What is the tokenized stock basis trade?
Buying a tokenized share on-chain and shorting the perpetual future on the same name, so the price exposure cancels and what is left is the gap between the two prices plus the funding paid between them. It is the cash-and-carry trade applied to equities, with both legs settling on-chain instead of through a broker and a futures account.
How much is the edge right now?
On the 2026-09-24 22:39 UTC snapshot the median entry edge across 11 pairs was +0.323%, with HOOD widest at +1.427% and MSFT the only negative at −0.205%. The US market is closed, which is the caveat that matters: the share price both legs are measured against is hours old, so part of that edge is the market’s opinion about where the share reopens rather than a dislocation you can capture.
Does funding always pay the short?
No, and the data says so plainly: all 11 of the 11 names went negative at some point in the last 7 days. Only 6 of 11 clear StackFi's dependable-carry test, which requires the median annualised funding to be positive and the negative hours to stay under a tenth of the sample. A rate quoted at one instant tells you almost nothing about what holding the position would have earned.
What is the difference between basis and entry edge?
Basis is the perpetual against the tokenized share. Entry edge is the basis minus what you overpay on the spot leg, so it is what a delta-neutral entry actually locks in before any carry. The distinction matters because a wide basis on a token already trading at a premium can leave nothing once both legs are crossed — the edge is the number that decides whether the trade exists.
Can you actually execute this size?
That is usually the binding constraint rather than the edge. The spot leg has to come out of an on-chain pool, and on this snapshot those ranged from $240k on AMZN up to $1.20M on HOOD. An order large enough to matter moves the spot price against you before the perp leg is open, which is why an edge quoted in basis points is not the same as an edge you can take.
Which tokenized stocks have no perpetual to trade against?
SPY (no perp market), QQQ (no perp market), GLD (no perp market) — the ETFs in the set have no perp market, so the trade simply does not exist for them no matter what their premium does. StackFi lists them as skipped rather than silently dropping them.