Leverage and margin on Hyperliquid
The rules that decide when a leveraged position is closed for you, in plain English with the real formulas.
Hyperliquid liquidates a position when its equity falls below the maintenance margin, which is half the initial margin at the asset's max leverage: 1.25% for BTC (40x max) up to 16.7% for 3x assets. An isolated 10x BTC long is liquidated after roughly an 8.9% drop; at 20x, roughly 3.8%.
The short version
- Leverage lets you control a position bigger than the collateral you post. 5x leverage means $100 of margin controls a $500 position.
- Margin is that collateral. Hyperliquid uses USDC for its core perps.
- Liquidation is the automatic close of a position when its remaining collateral falls below a minimum, the maintenance margin. With higher leverage, a smaller price move gets you there.
Perps are risky. Losses are measured on the full position size, not your margin, so a 10% move on a 10x position wipes out roughly the whole margin.
Margin modes: cross, isolated, strict isolated
| Mode | What it means | What a liquidation takes |
|---|---|---|
| Cross (default) | All cross positions share one pool of collateral; unrealized profit on one supports the others. | All your cross positions and cross margin. With no isolated positions, you end at zero equity. |
| Isolated | Margin is assigned to one position. You can add or remove margin after opening. | Only that position and its margin. |
| Strict isolated | Like isolated, but you can’t remove margin; it comes out proportionally as you close. Used on some assets. | Only that position and its margin. |
HIP-3 markets (such as stock perps on trade.xyz) also have a “no cross” mode: isolated with margin removal allowed, but no cross margin.
Cross margin catches people in one specific way. When you deposit USDC or close a position while other cross positions are losing, the new money goes to support those positions first. Hyperliquid’s support docs describe users who close a position showing $1,000 of margin and see less than $1,000 become available. That isn’t a bug; it’s cross margin working as designed.
How much margin you need
Leverage can be set to any whole number from 1 to the asset’s maximum:
| Asset | Max leverage |
|---|---|
| BTC | 40x |
| ETH | 25x |
| SOL | 20x |
| HYPE | 10x |
Source: Hyperliquid API, 4 Nov 2026. Other assets range down to 3x.
The margin to open a position is:
position size × mark price ÷ leverage
So a 0.01 BTC position at a mark price of $100,000 with 5x leverage needs $200 of margin. (A round illustrative price, not a forecast.)
Leverage is only checked when you open. After that, it’s your job to watch the position. If it moves against you, Hyperliquid lists your options: close part or all of it, add margin (isolated), or deposit more USDC (cross).
Margin tiers for big positions
Large positions get lower max leverage. On BTC, positions up to $150M notional can use 40x; above that, 20x. ETH drops from 25x to 15x above $100M; SOL from 20x to 10x above $70M. Many large-cap alts, including HYPE, drop from 10x to 5x above $20M. Most readers won’t hit these, but they exist.
When you get liquidated
The maintenance margin is half the initial margin at the asset’s maximum leverage:
| Max leverage of the asset | Maintenance margin |
|---|---|
| 40x (BTC) | 1.25% of position value |
| 20x | 2.5% |
| 10x (HYPE) | 5% |
| 3x | 16.7% |
When your equity on a position (for cross, your account value including unrealized PnL) falls below maintenance margin × position value, liquidation starts.
How far price can move: worked numbers
Using Hyperliquid’s published liquidation formula for isolated positions, ignoring fees and funding:
| Leverage | BTC long | BTC short | HYPE long | HYPE short |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2x | −49.4% | +48.2% | −47.4% | +42.9% |
| 3x | −32.5% | +31.7% | −29.8% | +27.0% |
| 5x | −19.0% | +18.5% | −15.8% | +14.3% |
| 10x | −8.9% | +8.6% | −5.3% | +4.8% |
| 20x | −3.8% | +3.7% | not available | not available |
| 40x | −1.3% | +1.2% | not available | not available |
Read it as: “an isolated 10x BTC long is liquidated after the mark price falls about 8.9% from entry.” Funding payments and fees eat into margin over time, so the real distance is a little shorter the longer you hold.
The formula, explained
Hyperliquid’s docs give the exact liquidation price as:
liq_price = price − side × margin_available ÷ position_size ÷ (1 − l × side)
sideis 1 for a long, −1 for a short.lis 1 ÷ maintenance leverage (for BTC, 1 ÷ 80 = 0.0125).margin_availableis your margin minus the maintenance margin required. For isolated, that’s the position’s own margin. For cross, it’s your whole account value.
In plain English: take the cushion between what you’ve posted and the minimum you must keep, spread it across your position size, and that’s how far price can go against you.
Two consequences from the docs:
- For cross positions, the leverage setting doesn’t change the liquidation price. Lower leverage just uses more of your collateral. The liquidation price depends on your total account value, so it moves when your other positions win or lose.
- For isolated positions, leverage does matter, because it sets how much margin is allocated to the position.
What happens during a liquidation
- Order book first. Hyperliquid sends market orders to close the position. If that restores the maintenance requirement, any remaining collateral stays with you. There’s no liquidation clearance fee.
- Partial liquidation for big positions. Positions over $100,000 are liquidated 20% at a time, with a 30-second cooldown after each partial liquidation.
- Backstop. If equity falls below two-thirds of the maintenance margin without the book absorbing it, the liquidator vault (part of HLP) takes over the position. You lose the maintenance margin in this case.
- Auto-deleveraging (ADL), rarely. If an account goes negative, profitable traders on the other side can have positions closed at the previous mark price so the exchange carries no bad debt.
Liquidations use the mark price, a blend of outside exchange prices and Hyperliquid’s own book. In volatile moments it can differ sharply from the last trade you see on the chart.
Taking money out of a leveraged account
You can withdraw unrealized profit only if what’s left covers both the initial margin and at least 10% of your total open position value. This rule applies to withdrawals, transfers to spot, and moving margin off an isolated position.
Account modes and margin
Hyperliquid’s “account abstraction mode” changes how balances work:
- Unified account (Hyperliquid recommends it for most users): one balance per asset, shared between spot and all cross positions using that asset as collateral.
- Portfolio margin: one portfolio across eligible assets (HYPE, BTC, USDC, USDT), the most capital efficient and the most complex.
- Standard: separate perps and spot balances, and separate balances per HIP-3 dex; cross margin applies within each dex only.
If you trade HIP-3 markets such as stocks alongside crypto, your mode decides whether those positions share margin.
Common mistakes
- Using max leverage because it’s there. A 40x BTC position is liquidated by roughly a 1.3% move.
- Treating cross as safer. It spreads risk across your whole balance.
- Ignoring funding. Hourly funding slowly reduces margin on the paying side.
- Watching the chart instead of the mark price.
- No stop loss. A stop above your liquidation price keeps the maintenance margin you’d lose in a backstop liquidation.
If something goes wrong
- Liquidation price is getting close: reduce the position, add margin (isolated) or deposit USDC (cross).
- “Market Liquidation” in Trade History: the position hit maintenance margin.
- Can’t withdraw: check the 10% transfer margin rule; close or reduce positions to free collateral.
Next: protect positions with the right order types.
Questions people ask
What is the max leverage on Hyperliquid?
It depends on the asset: 40x for BTC, 25x for ETH, 20x for SOL and 10x for HYPE (Hyperliquid API, 4 Nov 2026). Very large positions drop to lower limits under margin tiers, for example BTC above $150M notional is capped at 20x.
Should I use cross or isolated margin?
Isolated caps your loss at the margin on that one position, which makes the worst case easy to see. Cross shares your whole balance across positions, which is more capital efficient but means one bad position can drain the account.
Does lowering leverage on a cross position move my liquidation price?
No. Hyperliquid's docs say the liquidation price of a cross margin position doesn't depend on the leverage you set; lower leverage just ties up more collateral. To move it, add funds or reduce the position.
Why was I liquidated before the chart touched my liquidation price?
Liquidations use the mark price, which combines outside exchange prices with Hyperliquid's order book, not the last trade on the chart. During volatile moves the two can differ significantly.