What is the difference between cross and isolated margin?
Isolated margin gives one position its own margin: only that amount can be lost on it, and its liquidation price is set by what you put in. Cross margin backs every cross position with the account’s whole cross balance, which moves liquidation further away by putting more money behind the trade. Cross is Hyperliquid’s default.
- Isolated gives one position its own margin. Only that margin can be lost on it, and the liquidation price follows from how much you put in.
- Cross puts the account’s whole cross balance behind every cross position. More money behind the trade moves liquidation further away, and puts all of that money on the line.
- The same money gives the same liquidation price: $800 isolated and $800 in a cross account both liquidate the example long at 82.05.
- Up to the stop, both modes lose the same: $100 on the example trade. They differ only in what happens beyond it.
- Cross is the default on Hyperliquid. Some markets offer isolated margin only, and on some the margin cannot be taken back out.
Two ways to back a position
Every position needs margin behind it, and there are two ways to provide it. Isolated margin sets aside a fixed amount for one position. That amount is all the position can lose: if it is liquidated, the rest of the account is untouched.
Cross margin lets every cross position draw on the account’s cross balance. A profit on one position helps hold up the others, and a loss on one eats into the room of all of them. The leverage you pick sets how much margin an order needs when it opens; where liquidation sits depends on the whole balance and on everything else open against it.
So the question is not which mode is safer. It is how much money you want standing behind one trade, and whether a loss on it should be able to reach the rest of the account.
What is on the line
Take an account of $3,000 with nothing else open, and one long of 40 units at 100.00, worth $4,000, on a market whose maximum leverage is 20×. Isolated at 5×, it ties up $800 and liquidates at 82.05. The other $2,200 is out of its reach.
On cross, all $3,000 stands behind it, and liquidation falls to 25.64: about 4 times as far from entry. That room is paid for with the whole account. Liquidated on isolated, the account keeps about $2,282; liquidated on cross, about $26.
Nothing about cross itself moves the line. Put the same $800 in a cross account and the long liquidates at 82.05, exactly where the isolated one does. The distance comes from the money behind the trade, as the figure shows.
What the stop loses
If the trade hits its stop at 97.50, both modes lose the same $100, and the account ends at $2,900 either way. The margin mode decides nothing about the planned loss.
It matters only when price runs past the stop: a gap, a stop that was never placed, or a stop that fills late. Then isolated caps the damage at the position’s margin, while cross lets the loss keep drawing on the balance down to its lower liquidation price. The worked example below follows both.
Several positions on cross
On cross, positions share one balance, so each one’s liquidation price depends on the others. Open a second cross position and the first one’s liquidation moves closer, because the balance behind it now has two jobs.
A loss on one cross position eats into the room of every other cross position. In a backstop liquidation, all cross positions and the cross balance go together.
Isolated positions do not lean on each other this way. Each one stands on its own margin.
On Hyperliquid
Cross is the default. Leverage is a whole number from 1× up to the market’s maximum, checked when the position opens, and can be raised later without closing it.
On an isolated position you can add margin, or take some out as long as what is left is at least max(initial margin required, 10% × total position value); its unrealised profit or loss counts towards its margin. Markets set to strict isolated do not let margin be taken out: it comes back in proportion as the position is closed.
Markets launched by outside deployers under HIP-3 can be isolated only. Where a deployer has enabled cross margin, that cannot be undone, and Hyperliquid notes that cross margin across markets from different deployers still carries greater risk.
If a position falls below two thirds of its maintenance margin before the book can absorb it, the backstop takes over and the maintenance margin is not returned. On cross, every cross position and the cross balance go together; on isolated, only that position and its margin. How liquidation works covers the whole process.
One trade, two modes, five prices
Example numbersThe long from above: 40 units at 100.00, worth $4,000, in an account of $3,000 with nothing else open. Isolated at 5× it has $800 of margin; on cross it has the whole account. Each row is the account’s value if price falls to that level, counting a liquidation as filled at its liquidation price, before fees.
- Account
- $3,000
- Isolated margin
- $800
- Isolated liquidation
- 82.05
- Cross liquidation
- 25.64
| Price | Isolated: account | Cross: account |
|---|---|---|
| 97.50 | $2,900 | $2,900 |
| 90.00 | $2,600 | $2,600 |
| 82.05 | $2,282 | $2,282 |
| 60.00 | $2,282 | $1,400 |
| 25.64 | $2,282 | $26 |
In a backstop, where the maintenance margin is not returned, the isolated account would still keep the $2,200 it never put up; on cross, the balance goes with the position.
Mistakes that cost traders money
- Treating cross as safer.
Cross moves liquidation away by putting the whole balance behind the trade. If price runs that far, the whole balance is what pays.
- Opening a second cross position without looking again.
It shares the same balance, so the first position’s liquidation moves closer. Read both lines after every new cross trade.
- Adding margin to a losing isolated trade.
It moves liquidation away, and puts more money behind an idea the stop already called wrong.
- Taking margin out of a winner.
Removing margin pulls liquidation closer. After any transfer, read the liquidation price again.
- Assuming every market offers both modes.
Some markets are isolated only, and some do not let margin be taken back out. Check the market before you plan around a mode.
Try it in BuildTrade™
In BuildTrade™, a live order goes out at the ticket’s leverage in the margin mode the market already uses on your Hyperliquid account; the app does not switch modes, so check the mode on Hyperliquid first. Est. liquidation on the ticket is estimated from the order alone, so on cross, other open positions move the real line.
Margining, Hyperliquid Docs (read October 20, 2026).
Liquidations, Hyperliquid Docs (read October 20, 2026).
HIP-3: Builder-deployed perpetuals, Hyperliquid Docs (read October 20, 2026).
BuildTrade™ is independent of, and not endorsed by, Hyperliquid.