Maintenance Margin
Maintenance margin is the minimum amount of collateral that must remain in a leveraged position for it to stay open. If losses push your margin below this level, the platform liquidates the position.
Where it fits
When you open a leveraged position, you post initial margin. As the price moves, your unrealized profit or loss is added to or subtracted from that margin. The maintenance margin is the floor. As long as your margin, including unrealized losses, stays above it, the position stays open. Once it falls to or below the floor, liquidation begins.
Maintenance margin is usually a small percentage of the position value, lower than the initial margin, and it often rises in tiers as the position grows larger.
An example
Say you open a 10,000 USDC long on BTC with 1,000 USDC of margin, which is 10x leverage, and the maintenance margin is 0.5 percent, or 50 USDC. Your margin can absorb about 950 USDC of losses. That corresponds to a drop of about 9.5 percent in the mark price. If BTC falls that far, the platform closes the position, and what is left of your margin is usually lost to the close and liquidation fees.
Why platforms use the mark price
Most crypto derivatives platforms compare your margin against the mark price, a fair-value reference built from several spot exchanges, rather than the last traded price on their own book. This makes it harder for a brief spike on one exchange to trigger liquidations. It also means your position can be liquidated even if the last trade on the chart never touched your liquidation price, or survive a wick that did.
Keeping a buffer
You can stay further from the maintenance level by using lower leverage, adding margin to an open position, or reducing its size. Cross margin uses your whole account balance as a buffer, which delays liquidation but puts more money at risk. Funding payments and fees slowly reduce your margin too, so a position held for weeks drifts closer to the threshold even if price stands still.
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Frequently asked questions
What happens when I hit maintenance margin?
The platform's liquidation engine closes or reduces your position, usually charging a liquidation fee, and you lose most or all of the margin.
Is maintenance margin the same on every platform?
No. Each platform sets its own rates, often tiered by position size and asset, so check the contract specifications.
Can I add margin to avoid liquidation?
Yes. Adding collateral to an isolated position, or more balance to a cross-margin account, moves your liquidation price further away.
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