Forced Loan Repayment, Credit Line Liquidation and Risk Unit Terms and Conditions
Updated on 31 October 2025
1. Risk Units Overview
When applying for our Credit Line or Institutional Loan or products, borrowers are required to nominate certain of their account(s) as "Risk Units" for purposes of risk management. This article describes Risk Units and the other mechanisms (Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation) that may apply in relation to Risk Units.
2. Application
As at the date of publication of this article, the mechanisms referred to in this document apply to the following products / services, which may be updated by OKX at any time at its sole discretion:
Product / Service Name | Current Status |
Credit Line | ✅ |
Institutional Loan | ✅ |
3. Nominating a Risk Unit
When applying for Credit Line or Institutional Loan products from OKX, borrowers are required to nominate any number of their main and sub-accounts (or no sub-accounts) to form a cluster called a Risk Unit. Borrowers can choose whether or not to include their main account in the Risk Unit; if they do, then the main account would be the operative account where the Creditline / Institutional Loan services are provided. In the event that borrowers do not choose to include their main account in the Risk Unit, they may choose to treat a sub-account as the delegated main account where the Creditline / Institutional Loan service are provided. Each of the main / sub-accounts can only be part of one Risk Unit. In the absence of a selection of Risk Unit composition, the Main and all eligible sub-accounts are selected to form the Risk Unit. Borrowers can form multiple Risk Units, for different Creditline / Institutional Loan service orders, subject to overall risk management requirements applicable in each case. OKX monitors the overall risk level of each loan or line of credit by reference only to the nominated Risk Unit. Margin Ratios are calculated by reference to the assets in the Risk Unit. You can change the sub-accounts of a Risk Unit, provided the margin ratio requirements, delta limits, and other relevant parameters meet required thresholds.
Borrowers are responsible for managing the risk levels of the accounts within their Risk Unit.
4. Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation Mechanism
Margin Ratio
The risk monitoring mechanism for a Risk Unit works by reference to a margin ratio percentage (MR%).
Concept | Description | Example |
MR% | Borrowers should proactively assess the risk level and debt repayment ability of accounts / sub-accounts within the Risk Unit, by reference to MR%.
| Using the examples in the rows below: Total Discounted Assets of the Risk Unit = 7,276,250 + 5,000,000 = 12,276,250 Total Liabilities of the Risk Unit = 40 * 100,000 + 3,000,000 = 7,000,000 MR% = (12,276,250 - 7,000,000)/7,000,000 = 75.375% |
Total Discounted Assets of the Risk Unit | The sum of the discounted assets of each account / sub-account within the Risk Unit. Calculation of Total Discounted Assets: -Calculate the sum of each asset in each account / sub-account (inclusive of trading and funding accounts). -Multiply the above sum by a Discount Rate and Tier, applicable to each type of asset. Note that if the above figure for any asset is negative, then the full negative value is used for the purpose of the current calculation (i.e. the negative value is not discounted) -Convert the result for each type of asset to USDT -Calculate the sum of the abovementioned discounted assets Note that any assets in isolated-margin in long option positions are excluded from the Total Discounted Assets calculation. | Note: Kindly refer to the [Image 1] and [Image 2] below For the purpose of this example, assume current value of BTC is 100,000, current value of ETH is 2,600. Discounted asset value of delegated main account (in USDT value): Discounted asset value of Sub-account 1 (in USDT value): Total Discounted asset value of the Risk Unit: |
Total Liabilities of the Risk Unit | Sum of all liabilities in the Risk Unit. For loans, liabilities takes into account principal, interest, and any other amounts owed. | Client borrows through Credit Line and Institutional Loan products: Credit Line Liability (principal + interest): BTC 40 Total Liabilities of the Risk Unit = (40 * 100,000) + 3,000,000 = 7,000,000 |
[Image 1]
[Image 2]
Note: For Fiat, we support "EUR" and "USD" as collateral to calculate discount asset value into MR% for corresponding entity. OKX is planning to iterate more fiats as eligible collateral and liability in the future.
Liquidation process of fiat is the same as other crypto currency, following the forced loan repayment mechanism.
Risk management
As a borrower, certain margin ratios will be notified to you.
Initial Margin Ratio | This is the minimum Initial Margin Ratio (IMR) to open loan positions. |
Withdrawal Margin Ratio | If the MR% <= this ratio, assets cannot be withdrawn from or transferred out of the Risk Unit |
Margin Call Margin Ratio | If the MR% <= this ratio, the margin call will be triggered, as described in the OKX Terms of Service. If a Borrower does not respond to a Margin call and the request to top-up collateral within 24 hours of the Margin call, the accounts within the Risk Unit may be liquidated. However, such liquidation can progress even without 24 hours having elapsed, if the MR% reaches Liquidation Margin Ratio |
Liquidation Margin Ratio | If the MR% <= this ratio, Assets will be liquidated to reduce the Total Liabilities of the Risk Unit to zero, or until no further assets remain within the Risk Unit for liquidation. |
The abovementioned ratios will be determined on a case-by-case basis for each borrower based on their trading strategies, type of loan product required, expected equity and risk evaluation.
We generally adopt 3 different categories of ratio requirements as described below based on our assessed risk profile for the particular product and particular borrower. OKX reserves the right to adjust one or more of the applicable ratio requirements at any time, on a case-by-case basis, and in OKX's full discretion:
Initial MR% | Withdrawal MR% | Margin Call MR% | Liquidation MR% | |
Category 1 | 40% | 40% | 30% | 15% |
Category 2 | 80% | 80% | 50% | 15% |
Category 3 | 100% | 100% | 70% | 15% |
The above rules apply unless otherwise stated in any agreement between you and OKX.
For Institutional Loan borrowers, the MR% is updated periodically and can be viewed on the OKX Platform or pulled through the API interface.
For Credit Line users, the MR% is updated periodically and can be pulled through the API interface.
Note: Discount Rate refers to the value attributed to an asset (including fiat and digital asset) when used as collateral. It is specified here and can vary based on quantity (this being the Discount Tier). OKX reserves the right to adjust the Discount Rate and Tier based on prevailing market conditions, without prior notice to the Customer. Additionally, OKX has the right to determine the attributable value of any collateral, including eligible fiat, using a market fiat exchange rate selected solely by OKX.
Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation Rules
When the MR% of a Risk Unit is equal to or lower than the applicable liquidation MR (which is typically 15% unless otherwise communicated), forced repayment of the loans associated with that Risk Unit is triggered (for Institutional Loan, this is referred to as Forced Loan Repayment, note that this is different to the forced repayment that can be triggered as a result of negative balances existing or platform limits being met; for Credit Line, this is referred to as Credit Line Liquidation).
Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation is carried out as follows:
Steps | Example |
1. Freeze borrower's accounts: Freeze all master and sub-accounts within the Risk Unit. Freezing results in the inability to transfer, trade, or withdraw all assets within the Risk Unit, until Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation is complete. | |
2. Funding Account Repayment: Funding accounts will be utilised for Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation , ahead of trading accounts. Of the accounts within a Risk Unit, they are ordered for Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation from highest to lowest, based on the total USDT value of assets within each account. Thereafter: - Within each account, assets and liabilities with the same currency are offset; - If liabilities remain, then assets are sold off to repay them. When selecting the cryptocurrency to be sold, assets with the least discount (for reference only, please refer to the Discount Rates table here) are typically prioritized for sale, in an effort to minimise the impact on the user's overall account equity. Assets with a Discount Rate of 0 will not be sold. Among assets with identical Discount Rates, assets with better liquidity are prioritized. Assets are first converted to USDT, then to the currency in which the liability is. USDT is used as an intermediate conversion asset due to its high liquidity and low slippage. Liquidity rankings are dynamically adjusted based on OKX Platform liquidity, and are not publicly disclosed; - Sold assets are used to repay liabilities, with loans in the most illiquid currencies being prioritized for repayment first. | Assume that an account has: - A liability of 10 BTC; - Assets of 4 BTC; - Additional ETH and SOL assets. 1. As an example of the same currency offset mechanism, the BTC assets are used for repayment, and a net 6 BTC liability remains; 2. As an example of repayment using liabilities and assets of different currencies, if the account continues to have a liability of 6 BTC, but no BTC assets, other assets are used. If the account has ETH and SOL, then ETH would be prioritised for sale. The ETH would be converted to USDT, and then again converted to BTC to pay off the remaining 6 BTC liability. |
3. Trading Account Repayment： In the event that liabilities still remain in the Risk Unit after the above, then trading accounts are utilised for Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation . At the outset, all pending orders in a Risk Unit are cancelled. Of the accounts within a Risk Unit, they are ordered for Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation from highest to lowest, based on the maintenance margin ratio of each account. Thereafter: - Within each account, assets and liabilities with the same currency are offset; - If liabilities remain, then assets are sold off to repay them. When selecting the cryptocurrency to be sold, assets with the least discount (for reference only, please refer to the Discount Rates table here) are typically prioritized for sale, in an effort to minimise the impact on the user's overall account equity. Assets with a Discount Rate of 0 will not be sold. Among assets with identical Discount Rates, assets with better liquidity are prioritized. Assets are first converted to USDT, then to the currency in which the liability is. USDT is used as an intermediate conversion asset due to its high liquidity and low slippage. Liquidity rankings are dynamically adjusted based on OKX Platform liquidity, and are not publicly disclosed; - Sold assets are used to repay liabilities, with loans in the most illiquid currencies being prioritized for repayment first; - For each account / sub-account, initially, assets are sold and liabilities repaid to bring each account / sub-account within the Risk Unit to its IMR. - If liabilities still exist, then assets in each account / sub-account will continue to be sold and liabilities repaid to bring each account / sub-account within the Risk Unit to its maintenance margin ratio (MMR) (or a specific percentage of the maintenance margin ratio); - If the borrower then continues to have a liability, then forced liquidation based on unified account liquidation rules will occur, as explained in this article. | Assume that after the above mechanism: - The account has a remaining liability of 5 BTC; - Sub-account A has assets of 1 BTC, and its IMR is 0.8 BTC, and its MMR is 0.5 BTC; - Sub-account B has assets of 1 ETH, and its IMR is 0.8 ETH, and its MMR is 0.5 ETH. The repayment process would be as follows: 1. First, all pending orders in all trading accounts are cancelled; 2. Next, 0.2 BTC is transferred from sub-account A to OKX, in order to repay the loan up to the IMR of that sub-account. The residual liability is 4.8 BTC; 3. Thereafter, 0.2 ETH is transferred from sub-account B to OKX, in order to repay the loan up to the IMR of that sub-account. The 0.2 ETH is converted to USDT and then to BTC. Assume this results in 0.05 BTC. The residual liability is 4.75 BTC. 4. Given that 4.75 BTC of liability remains, forced liquidation based on the unified account liquidation rules would now occur. |
Note :
If forced liquidation occurs or is ongoing, for a specific account / sub-account based on unified account liquidation rules, then Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation as described above will not occur on such account / sub-account.
The loans risk mechanism will front-load non-collateral assets in the sequence and prioritise them for selling and redemption, as detailed in the configuration of this article.
Forced Loan Repayment / Credit Line Liquidation is complete when the Total Liability of the Risk Unit is fully repaid. If the Total Liability of the Risk Unit is fully repaid, then the accounts / sub-accounts within the Risk Unit are automatically unfrozen. However, if that Total Liability is not fully repaid, then the accounts / sub-accounts will continue to be frozen. If there continue to be liabilities in the Risk Unit after liquidation, this will be shown on the Platform, and the user will continue to be liable for such amount.
A liquidation fee is charged upon liquidation, calculated as follows:
(a) total amount of assets that have successfully been liquidated x Taker fee rate of the borrower's current fee tier; plus
(b) 2% of the total amount of the Total Liabilities of the Risk Unit (on each asset constituting a liability).
Any residual assets remaining after all liquidation processes are complete will be repaid to the user's main funding account.
5. Delta Limit & Restrictions
To mitigate the overall risks associated with the value of the Risk Unit, OKX will impose Net Delta and Gross Delta limits on each Risk Unit. Before granting a borrowing limit, OKX and the client must mutually agree on the delta limits and other relevant parameters.
When the delta of a risk unit approaches the delta limit, an alert will be triggered. If the delta exceeds a specified threshold and is not reduced below that level, withdrawal and transfers from the Risk Units may be restricted.
OKX reserves the right to vary its methodology of calculating delta at any time in its sole discretion.
Delta Calculation
Delta of each Token (USD value)
Delta calculation of each token:
Funding account equity + Trading account net equity* + Derivatives Delta*
Note:
Trading account net equity includes assets and liabilities across both cross and isolated positions, as well as unrealized P/L, options market value, etc.
Derivatives delta accounts for perpetuals and expiry futures.
All delta values are denominated in USD.
A positive delta indicates a long position in the token, while a negative delta indicates a short position.
BETH is considered equivalent to ETH, and OKSOL is considered equivalent to SOL when calculating delta.
Net Delta
The Net Delta of a risk unit is the sum of the delta values of all tokens within that unit:
Calculate the delta of each token across all accounts in the risk unit.
Aggregate delta values of the same token across different accounts.
Sum the delta values of all tokens (excluding USDT, USDC, USD).
Gross delta
The Gross delta of a risk unit is the sum of the absolute delta values of all tokens within that unit:
Calculate the delta of each token across all accounts in the risk unit.
Aggregate delta values of the same token across different accounts.
Sum the absolute delta values of all tokens (excluding USDT, USDC, USD).
Calculation Example
In the case below
Net Delta = -5,000,000 + 10,000,000 = 5,000,000
Gross Delta = 5,000,000 + 10,000,000 = 15,000,000
Risk Unit | |||||
Equity Delta | Derivatives Delta | Total Delta | |||
Funding account equity | Trading account net equity | Perp Delta | Option Delta | ||
BTC | 2,000,000 | 2,000,000 | -10,000,000 | 1,000,000 | -5,000,000 |
ETH | 2,000,000 | -2,000,000 | 10,000,000 | N/A | 10,000,000 |
Delta Limit & Borrow Limit
Each Risk Unit will have predefined delta limits, covering both Net Delta and Gross Delta and a borrowing limit. These limits are determined by OKX based on, among others, the client’s trading strategy, expected equity, and applicable margin ratio requirements.
Example:
Risk Unit 1 | |
Portfolio Net Delta | 10,000,000 |
Crypto Gross Delta | 20,000,000 |
Expected Equity | 5,000,000 |
Delta and borrow limits are set based on the client's expected committed equity within the risk unit. If actual equity deviates significantly from the expected value, limits may be adjusted downward.
If holding equity is more than equity minimum requirement, there is delta Limit Buffer = Max(0, current Equity- Expected Equity )
The current delta limits, delta limit buffer and latest available delta values for each risk unit can be retrieved via API.
Delta Warning & Restrictions
Please note that if either the Gross Delta or the Net Delta falls into the specified warning or restriction thresholds, the corresponding warning or restrictions will be triggered accordingly.
Threshold | Warning & Restrictions | Details |
90% – 100% of limit + buffer | Warning | Alert triggered when net or gross delta is above 90% of limit. |
100% – 130% of limit + buffer | Withdrawal restricted | Withdrawals will be limited when delta exceeds 100%, up to 130%. |
≥12 hours at 100%–130% + buffer or ≥ 130% +buffer | Trading frozen | All open orders will be canceled; opening new positions or spot trading will be disabled. You can only close derivatives positions or repay liabilities. |
6. Restrictions on Option Trading
For Institutional Loan users, only accounts with no option positions will be allowed to be added to risk units. Similarly, all accounts within existing risk units will be restricted from options trading.
7. Other risk parameters monitoring
In addition to the margin ratio and delta limit requirements, OKX will monitor various other risk parameters for each risk unit to evaluate its overall risk level. If a portfolio is deemed high risk, the OKX team will contact the client to implement risk mitigation measures. Should the parties fail to reach an agreement or if the risks continue to escalate, OKX reserves the right to reduce borrowing limits or recall the loan immediately.
The parameters monitored by OKX include, but are not limited to:
Equity | The client's equity maintained on the platform |
Single altcoin collateral ratio | The market value of the client's largest altcoin holding divided by total equity of the risk unit |
Total altcoin collateral ratio | The total market value of all altcoin holdings divided by total equity of the risk unit |
Single altcoin net delta ratio | The net delta of the largest altcoin position divided by total equity of the risk unit |
Total altcoin net delta ratio | The total of the absolute values of all altcoin positions divided by total equity of the risk unit |
Total leverage ratio | The total amount borrowed on the platform (including institutional loans, credit lines, margins, etc.) divided by total equity of the risk unit |
8. Warnings, alerts, and notifications
While OKX will take measures to notify you whenever your applicable deltas or margin ratios exceeds the applicable warning levels, or upon the occurrence of any liquidation or restrictions being applied (including but not limited to email notification, phone calls, site message notification, etc.), you may not have the opportunity to receive such notifications in a timely manner. In times of larger market fluctuations, where the valuation of the assets in your Risk Unit or the liabilities it secures may change rapidly, or at times where there are technical delays with notification services on the Platform, it is possible that you do not receive any notifications prior to any actions (such as liquidation or trading freezes) being automatically executed. Users are ultimately responsible for monitoring their delta and MR, which is periodically updated, to ensure that they are within safe limits to reduce the risks of liquidation, margin calls, or trading freezes in the event of market fluctuations. Users are encouraged to maintain healthy collateral in excess of the required minimums to reduce the risks of liquidation or other restrictions being imposed on their Risk Units.