Tiered maintenance margin ratio rules (EEA)

Published on 8 December 2025

1.1 Overview

Forced liquidation is the process by which the system automatically handles your risk positions when the maintenance margin ratio of your account fails to meet the requirement: specifically, when your maintenance margin ratio falls to 100% or below, meaning your account equity is equal to or less than the required maintenance margin plus any applicable liquidation fees. The specific process includes order cancellation, partial liquidation, and/or full liquidation. The liquidation process of each account mode may be different.

Some products/services are subject to separate forced liquidation rules and thus have separate terms and conditions applied. For more information, please visit Forced Loan Repayment, Credit Line Liquidation and Risk Unit Terms and Conditions.

You are responsible for managing the risk levels of your positions and maintaining the required maintenance margin ratios.

Note that not all products described in this article may be applicable or accessible to you.

1.2 Maintenance Margin ratio requirements

Maintenance margin ratios represent the amount of margin you are required to provide in order to keep your position(s) open. Maintenance margin ratios are determined by a variety of factors, including your adjusted equity( your total account equity after accounting for unrealized profits and losses, representing how much value you actually have to support your open positions), maintenance margin requirements, which, in turn, may vary based on the account mode and your position tier.

In sum, your maintenance margin ratio is not a fixed number - it is expressed as a percentage and adjusts based on your equity, account mode and how large your positions are.

Maintenance margin requirements

Maintenance margin requirement represents the minimum amount you must maintain to keep your positions open. If your adjusted equity falls below this, you risk liquidation.

A. Account mode

Maintenance margin requirements may vary based on account mode. Isolated margin calculates requirements for each position separately; Cross margin calculates requirements based on the combined risk across all positions.

Under the isolated margin mode, cross margin mode, and multi-currency cross margin mode, the maintenance margin ratio is calculated by multiplying the value of each position by its corresponding maintenance margin rate, and then summing the resulting margin amounts from all positions. The maintenance margin requirement is the minimum margin amount that you are required to maintain for current positions.

B. Position tiers

Maintenance margin requirements may also vary based on position tier. Larger positions fall into higher tiers, which require a higher maintenance margin and allow for lower leverage. This tiered system helps reduce risk for the platform as your exposure increases.

The tiered maintenance margin requirements are put in place to protect market liquidity by preventing the forced sale of large positions. This helps avoid significant losses that could occur if positions are liquidated at unfavorable prices. Generally, the larger your position, the higher the maintenance margin requirement, and the lower the maximum leverage that you can set. For details on the position tiers, please visit here. Note that OKX may adjust position tiers from time to time for platform risk monitoring and adjustment. Users are strictly prohibited from using multiple accounts to build concentrated positions in the same trading pair to circumvent position tier limits. If such behavior is detected and deemed, at OKX's sole and absolute discretion, to pose a significant risk to market stability, OKX reserves the right to intervene, including taking over or closing the relevant positions.

For Margin trading

The required maintenance margin requirement can be determined through the position tiers based on the amount of borrowed crypto. Among them, you can refer to the corresponding trading pair tiers under isolated margin mode or cross-margin mode. For multi-currency mode, refer to the corresponding crypto tiers.

1.3 Liquidation fees and liquidation clearance fees

When the maintenance margin ratio of your account reaches 100% or lower in each account mode, the account triggers an automated forced position reduction.

OKX shall impose a liquidation taker fee for the processing of a liquidation order during the liquidation process (“Liquidation fees”). The Liquidation Fees shall be calculated in accordance with the taker fee rate applicable to your current fee tier level.

Liquidation clearance fees

Furthermore, an additional fee may be levied on your account to cover market fluctuations, including slippage and certain liquidation losses, during the processing of liquidation orders (“Liquidation clearance fee”).Following liquidation, the net proceeds resulting from Liquidation fees and Liquidation clearance fees will be contributed to the OKX pool to provide additional protection for users.Below are detailed calculation methods for liquidation clearance fee.

Spot and margin

The following units are all cryptocurrencies, and the final Liquidation clearance fee will be reflected in the liquidated assets:

1.4 Liquidation process

The forced liquidation process will vary based on the account mode and position mode. When the maintenance margin ratio of your account reaches 100% or lower, OKX will first automatically cancel or reject new orders that require additional margin and kick off the liquidation process. Generally, OKX will take over your account and use the OKX pool to liquidate the position that utilizes the highest margin. For the avoidance of doubt, OKX has the full discretion to determine when to use the OKX pool to cover losses. OKX does not guarantee that your losses will be protected or satisfied by the OKX pool.

Here is the liquidation process of the isolated positions for cross-margin positions. The system will assume the liability based on the position tiers. It will also collect the necessary amount to repay the liability from the asset and apply a liquidation clearance fee.

Here is the liquidation process of the cross-margin positions in multi-currency mode:

• When the liability involves a non-USDC crypto, the system will first prioritize settling the liability side. It will reduce the position based on available liquidity---starting with the most liquid assets while also considering the position tier of the crypto. On the asset side, for positive assets, the system will prioritize liquidating the crypto with the highest applicable maximum discount rate.

• When the liability involves USDC, the system will start from the asset side and reduce the position in a gradient according to the liquidity from highest to lowest, combined with the currency discount rate level of the respective crypto.

This document is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide any investment, tax, or legal advice, nor should it be considered an offer to purchase, sell, hold or offer any services relating to digital assets. Digital asset holdings, including stablecoins, involve a high degree of risk, can fluctuate greatly, and can even become worthless. Leveraged trading in digital assets magnifies both potential gains and potential losses and could result in the loss of your entire investment. Past performance is not indicative of future results. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition, particularly if considering the use of leverage. You are solely responsible for your trading strategies and decisions, and OKX is not responsible for any potential losses. Not all products and promotions are available in all regions. For more details, please refer to the Terms of Service-EEA, and Conflicts of Interest Disclosure.

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