Key Takeaways
Isolated margin is a margin mode in which a position is backed only by the collateral assigned to it, rather than by your full account balance.
Isolated margin is set per market. Enabling it for one market leaves every other market on cross margin.
Your maximum loss on an isolated position is capped at its assigned margin. Your cross collateral and other positions are protected if an isolated position is liquidated.
Margin on an isolated position can be added or reduced at any time while the position is open.
Margin mode cannot be changed while you hold an open position or open orders in that market.
What is Isolated Margin
Isolated margin is a margin mode in which a fixed amount of collateral is assigned to a specific market, and positions in that market are backed by that amount alone.
Isolated margin is applied per market rather than to your account as a whole. Setting one market to isolated has no effect on open positions across other markets, with each market configured independently.
How Isolated Margin Works
An isolated margin position is segregated and protected. Its margin requirements are assessed against its assigned collateral only, and its performance has no bearing on the collateral supporting other positions.
If the position moves into profit, that gain accrues to the position rather than increasing the collateral available across your portfolio. If it moves into loss, the loss is absorbed by the assigned margin, and your cross margin positions are protected.
This is the defining characteristic of isolated margin: positions are independent. A market moving sharply against you in an isolated position cannot draw down the collateral holding up the rest of your portfolio. As such, isolated positions do not risk liquidations across other open positions.
Isolated Margin and Liquidation Price
The liquidation price on an isolated position is considerably more stable than on a cross position, because it responds only to that position's own variables:
Assigned margin: Adding collateral moves the liquidation price further from the current price; reducing it moves the price closer.
Position size and leverage: Increasing exposure against the same collateral raises the margin requirement and tightens the MM Usage threshold.
Funding payments: Funding settled on the position is applied against its assigned margin.
Unrealized losses in other markets do not impact estimated liquidation price on an isolated position.
Managing an Isolated Position
Isolated positions display an editable margin value in the Margin column of the Positions tab, alongside a pencil icon. Cross positions display a C and cannot be adjusted.
Clicking the pencil icon opens the Adjust Margin window, where you can add or reduce the margin assigned to the position:
Adding margin increases the buffer before liquidation: The collateral is drawn from your cross margin balance, which reduces the collateral supporting your cross positions and moves their liquidation prices closer.
Reducing margin returns collateral to your cross balance: The ‘Available to Reduce’ figure shown is the maximum you can withdraw while keeping the position open.
For the full walkthrough, see [Adjusting Margin on a Position].
When to Use Isolated Margin
Isolated margin is appropriate when the priority is knowing exactly what a position can cost you, and what the total liquidation risks of a position can be.
High-leverage trades, newly listed markets, and positions taken in unfamiliar or volatile conditions all carry a risk of moving sharply enough to threaten an entire cross margin portfolio. Isolating these positions confines that outcome to an amount you set. The same applies where a core position holds most of your collateral and you want shorter-term trades kept away from it.
Collateral committed to an isolated position cannot support other open positions, and unrealized profits across other positions cannot protect it.
Advantages
Defined maximum loss: Only the assigned collateral is exposed, so the worst outcome on that position is known before you enter.
Cleaner position-level PnL: With a known amount of capital committed, performance on that position is easier to measure in isolation.
Structured planning: A fixed downside per position makes position sizing and portfolio-level risk management more precise.
Limitations
Closer monitoring: With a limited amount of collateral behind it, an isolated position can reach liquidation on a move that a cross position would absorb.
Manual adjustments: If a position approaches liquidation, collateral must be added deliberately. Nothing is drawn automatically from the rest of your account.
Higher management overhead: Running several isolated positions with different allocations takes more active attention than a single shared pool.
For more information, see [What is Cross Margin?] and [Choosing between Cross Margin and Isolated Margin].
Frequently Asked Questions
What is isolated margin?
Isolated margin is a margin mode in which a position is backed only by a fixed amount of collateral assigned to it, rather than by your full portfolio balance.
How does isolated margin work?
An isolated position is backed solely by its assigned collateral. If that collateral is used up the position risks liquidation, while your cross margin positions remain unaffected.
Is isolated margin applied to my whole account?
Isolated margin mode is set per market. Enabling it for one market still leaves all other markets on cross margin by default.
Can I use cross and isolated margin at the same time?
Yes. Because the setting is per market, you can hold isolated positions in some markets and cross positions in others simultaneously.
Where does the collateral for an isolated position come from?
You add to your isolated margin balance from your ‘Available to Trade’ funds. Assigning or adding collateral to an isolated position reduces the collateral available to your cross positions.
Can I change margin mode with a position open?
No. Close any open position and cancel open orders for that market before switching margin mode.
Can I add margin to an isolated position after opening it?
Yes. Click the pencil icon in the Margin column of the Positions tab to add or reduce the assigned collateral at any time.