Key Takeaways
Cross margin is a margin mode in which your entire account balance serves as collateral for all of your open positions.
It is the default margin mode on Variational Omni, applied to every market unless you switch that market to isolated margin.
Profits and losses are pooled. Unrealised profit on one position increases the collateral available to all others; unrealised losses reduce it.
Liquidation is assessed at account level, triggered when Maintenance Margin usage crosses 100%.
What is Cross Margin
Cross margin is a margin mode in which your entire account balance is used to collateralize every position you hold.
Rather than assigning a fixed amount of collateral to each trade (known as isolated margin), all positions draw on a single, unified pool. Whilst this allows for positions to dynamically support one another (e.g. a position with unrealized profit can support one with unrealized losses), it can put your entire balance at risk in case of adverse price movements.
Cross margin is the default on Omni. Unless you have explicitly switched a market to isolated margin, your positions in that market are cross-margined.
How Cross Margin Works
Under cross margin, every position is supported by the same collateral, and every position's performance affects that collateral.
If one position moves into profit, your account equity rises, and the additional equity is available to support your other positions. If a position moves into loss, equity falls, and every other position has less collateral behind it.
This is the defining characteristic of cross margin: positions are interdependent. A trade opened in one market directly affects how much room trades in other markets have before reaching liquidation threshold.
Margin Requirements
Two requirements apply to any position on Omni.
Initial Margin (IM) is the collateral required to open a position. Omni performs a pre-trade check, and the order is rejected if your available collateral does not cover it.
Maintenance Margin (MM) is the minimum collateral required to keep a position open, and is approximately half the Initial Margin requirement.
Using cross margin, Maintenance Margin is calculated across your entire portfolio rather than per position. Omni marks every cross position against your total collateral and produces a single account-level figure, shown as MM Usage in the portfolio panel. When MM Usage crosses 100%, liquidation is triggered.
Cross Margin and Liquidation Price
The liquidation price shown against a cross position is an estimate, not a fixed threshold. It represents the price at which your account-wide MM Usage is estimated to reach 100%, calculated against your entire balance (plus open positions) at that moment.
Because the calculation is account-level, the estimate revises whenever any of the following change:
Unrealised PnL on other positions: A losing position elsewhere consumes shared collateral and moves a position's liquidation price closer.
Position size or leverage: Increasing exposure in any market raises its margin requirement, reducing the collateral available to support other positions.
Funding payments: Funding payments are debited from your balance. Continuous funding payments erode equity and tighten the liquidation threshold across all open positions.
Deposits and withdrawals: These adjust the collateral pool directly - new deposits will move your estimated liquidation price further away, while withdrawals will move your estimated liquidation price closer.
Managing a Cross Margin portfolio
Cross margin positions display a C in the Margin column of the Positions tab and cannot be adjusted individually, with collateral managed at account level:
Deposit additional USDC: Deposits increase your balance, reducing MM Usage across every position simultaneously.
Close or partially close positions: Closing or reducing positions releases margin back into the shared pool, lowering your MM Usage.
When to Use Cross Margin
Cross margin is appropriate where positions are intended to interact. Under cross margin, positions are offset automatically, removing the need to allocate collateral per market.
Cross margin is less appropriate where you want a defined maximum loss on a single position. Because the entire balance stands behind every trade, a high-leverage position in a volatile market has no ceiling, drawing on your full account balance.
Advantages
Flexible margin allocation: Collateral is drawn automatically from your available balance to support any position approaching its MM Usage threshold. No manual top-up is required as market conditions change.
Offsetting positions: Profit on one position helps cover losses on another, which is valuable when running positions intended to hedge each other.
Reduced per-position liquidation risk: A larger shared collateral pool means any single position has more room before it is liquidated.
Simpler management across multiple trades: Margin levels do not need to be set or monitored per position, which reduces operational burden when trading several markets at once.
Limitations
Higher risk of full account loss: If several positions move against you, all of them risk being liquidated together.
Less control at trade level: With collateral shared across the book, assigning a specific risk limit to an individual position is not possible.
Less clarity on total exposure: With multiple positions open with different unrealized PnL, assessing your portfolio exposure at a glance is harder than when each position carries a defined margin allocation.
For more information, see [What is Isolated Margin?] and [Choosing between Cross Margin and Isolated Margin].
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cross margin?
A margin mode in which your entire account balance acts as collateral for all open positions, with profits and losses pooled across them.
Is cross margin the default on Omni?
Yes. All markets are cross-margined unless you switch a specific market to isolated margin.
Can I add margin to an individual cross position?
No. Cross positions display a C in the Margin column and are not individually adjustable, as they draw on your full account balance rather than an assigned amount. Only isolated positions have adjustable margin.
Can one position cause another to be liquidated?
Yes. Because collateral is shared, a loss pushing account-wide MM Usage to 100% can trigger liquidation across your portfolio, including positions that are individually profitable. Omni applies partial liquidations, closing only the quantity required to return MM Usage below 100%.
Can I use cross and isolated margin at the same time?
Yes. Margin mode is set per market, so you can hold isolated positions in some markets and cross positions in others.
How do I switch a market to isolated margin?
Use the margin mode toggle in the order entry panel. Margin mode cannot be changed while you hold an open position or open orders in that market.