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DATA · MARK PRICE

Crypto Mark-Price Data: Null vs Zero - Handle Missing Fields Correctly

Mark price drives liquidations and unrealised PnL. Its endpoints add fields that are only meaningful at certain times and klines with placeholder slots.

By ChartsPod Editorial Team · Reviewed by ChartsPod Research
Published · Updated · 5 min read

Short answer

Binance's premiumIndex returns markPrice, indexPrice, estimatedSettlePrice, lastFundingRate, interestRate, nextFundingTime and time. The docs note estimatedSettlePrice is only useful in the last hour before settlement — outside that window, treat it as not meaningful rather than as a price. Mark-price klines use the 12-field format but mark volume-related slots as 'Ignore'. A mark-price series should never be summed for volume or compared field-by-field with trade klines without mapping.

Fields and what missing values mean

FieldNull / absent meansZero / empty means
markPriceRequest failed: unknown—
estimatedSettlePriceNot meaningful outside last hour—
lastFundingRate—0: real zero rate
Mark kline volume slots—Placeholder: ignore
nextFundingTimeUse with interval—
Mark Price: how to read each fieldMark Price: how to read each field: markPrice — Request failed: unknown; estimatedSettlePrice — Not meaningful outside last hour; lastFundingRate — 0: real zero rate; Mark kline volume slots — Placeholder: ignore; nextFundingTime — Use with interval.markPriceRequest failed: unknownestimatedSettlePriceNot meaningful outside last hourlastFundingRate0: real zero rateMark kline volume slotsPlaceholder: ignorenextFundingTimeUse with interval
Mark Price: missing vs zero, field by field. Original ChartsPod editorial graphic.

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Handling policy

Policy for this sourcePolicy for this source: Use mark price for liquidation math; Ignore placeholder slots; Time-gate estimatedSettlePrice; Keep mark and last separate; Timestamp every read.POLICY FOR THIS SOURCEUse mark price for liquidation mathIgnore placeholder slotsTime-gate estimatedSettlePriceKeep mark and last separateTimestamp every read
Apply this policy to every mark price request. Original ChartsPod editorial graphic.

Illustrative: a liquidation estimate uses last-trade price during a wick and predicts a liquidation that never happens. Mark price, which the exchange uses, moved far less.

Conclusion

Related: Crypto Index-Price Data: Null vs Zero - Handle Missing Fields Correctly, Binance Perpetual OHLCV: Null vs Zero - Handle Missing Fields Correctly.

A mark-price series should never be summed for volume or compared field-by-field with trade klines without mapping.

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Questions readers ask

When is estimatedSettlePrice useful?

In the last hour before settlement.

Do mark-price klines have volume?

Those slots are ignored placeholders.

Why use mark price?

Exchanges use it for liquidations and unrealised PnL.

Sources and methodology

Field definitions come from DEX Screener's API reference, CoinGecko's onchain API documentation and Binance's Spot API documentation, read 17 October 2026. Where a schema was not visible in the documentation, this guide says so and describes defensive handling rather than asserting field behaviour.

  1. Binance: USD-M Futures market data API — trades, depth, funding and open interest.
  2. Bybit: Liquidation process — mark price and margin modes.

This article explains research tools and workflows. It is not financial advice, does not recommend buying or selling any asset and does not predict prices. Crypto derivatives carry a risk of rapid and total loss of margin.

CHARTSPOD EDITORIAL EDITION · RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ONLY · NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE.