Forced liquidation FAQ
Why was my position force-liquidated?
When the risk of your position exceeds the range allowed by the platform, the system will automatically take over and close your position. This process is called forced liquidation (commonly known as being "blown out"). This guide explains the trigger conditions, the execution process and the fees for forced liquidation, as well as how to check and reduce your risk in advance.
Maintenance margin ratio is the only indicator for judging whether a position is safe. The higher the value, the safer the position, and forced liquidation is triggered when it is less than or equal to 100%. You can view it in real time on the positions page.
Mark price is a fair price calculated by weighting the spot indexes of several leading exchanges and then adding a reasonable basis. Forced liquidation only looks at the mark price, not the last traded price. This prevents positions from being wrongly liquidated by momentary price fluctuations in a single market.
Estimated liquidation price is a reference price derived by working backwards from "maintenance margin ratio = 100%". It changes in real time with your margin, positions, funding fees and other factors, so it can't be used as the sole basis for judging risk.
Position tier determines your maintenance margin requirement and the maximum leverage available to you. The larger the position, the higher the tier, the higher the maintenance margin requirement, and the lower the available leverage.
Under what circumstances will my position be force-liquidated?
The only criterion is: the maintenance margin ratio of the position or the account is less than or equal to 100%.
Notes:
It is not "you only get liquidated after your margin is completely wiped out". Forced liquidation happens before the margin is fully lost, in order to prevent your account from going into a negative balance.
It has no direct relationship with "how many percent the price dropped". At 100x leverage, the initial margin accounts for only 1% of the position value, so a reverse price move of less than 1% is enough to push the maintenance margin ratio to 100%.
Any leverage carries liquidation risk. Even 1x leverage can be liquidated under extreme market conditions.
The basis for the decision is the mark price. If you are cross-checking against the candlestick chart, please switch the price type to "Mark price".
How is forced liquidation executed?
The system doesn't close your entire position; the instant 100% is reached. It proceeds step by step:
Warning is sent: when the maintenance margin ratio is less than or equal to 300%, the system sends you a risk alert. 300% is an alert parameter and the platform may adjust it.
Open orders are canceled: when the maintenance margin ratio is less than or equal to 100%, the relevant unfilled orders are canceled first to release margin. If the ratio returns above 100% after cancellation, the account goes back to normal.
Partial liquidation (forced position reduction): if it is still unsafe, positions are reduced tier by tier — futures are lowered by 2 tiers per step, while margin and options are lowered by 1 tier per step. The maintenance margin ratio is recalculated after each step, and the process stops once the risk returns to a safe range, allowing the position to be retained.
Full liquidation: once futures have been reduced to tier 2 and margin and options to tier 1, if the maintenance margin ratio is still less than or equal to 100%, the remaining position is fully closed at the mark price.
Notes:
Order cancellation rules differ by margin mode: under cross margin, all unfilled orders (including bot orders) are canceled; under isolated margin, only orders in the opening direction are canceled, and TP/SL orders for closing positions are retained. This is why some orders show as "Canceled" after liquidation.
Partial liquidation leaves a record in Order history, shown as "Forced reduction" together with the reduction price.
How much does liquidation cost me?
Two fees are charged at liquidation. The net proceeds of both are contributed to the platform's security fund to provide additional protection for users:
Liquidation fee: charged at the taker fee rate of your current fee tier level (for options, the taker fee rate + 7% of the option premium).
Liquidation clearance fee: the maintenance margin calculated at the moment liquidation is triggered, based on the mark price and the tier the position is in. The higher the tier, the larger this fee.
Notes:
Closing a position manually doesn't incur the two liquidation-related fees above, but normal trading fees are still charged as usual.
The liquidation clearance fee is a normal expense within the rules and is not refundable.
If your account ends up with negative assets after liquidation, the system uses the security fund to cover them and generates a corresponding bankruptcy loss bill.
Where can I see my estimated liquidation price, and why does it keep changing?
You can see it in the position details on the positions page. It is derived in real time from "maintenance margin ratio = 100%", and all of the following will make it change:
Funding fee settlement — funding fees are added to or deducted from the position margin directly. Large payments reduce your margin and increase your risk;
Manually adding or removing margin;
Adding to the position in the same direction — once an order in the same mode and the same direction is filled, it merges with the existing position into a single position, so the average entry price and the position tier change accordingly;
Accrued interest (spot margin and loan scenarios);
Price changes of other underlyings under cross margin — if multiple underlyings exist under cross margin, price moves in the other underlyings will also affect the estimated liquidation price of this position.
Notes:
Simply adjusting the leverage will not change the estimated liquidation price; it only changes the occupied margin and the available balance.
The system does not provide an estimated liquidation price in the following cases. Please judge your risk by the maintenance margin ratio instead: there are options positions in the cross-margin account; there are margin positions in non-USDT trading pairs in the cross-margin account; there are futures or margin positions with different underlyings under USDT cross margin; multiple margin currencies are held under multi-currency margin mode (in this case the page shows a risk level instead — select the dotted line under "Liquidation risk" option to expand and view it).
How do I estimate the liquidation price before placing an order?
The easiest way is to use the platform calculator: on the trading page, select the Menu (three-dot menu) in the top right > Calculator, select the margin mode and direction, then enter the leverage, entry price and amount to run the calculation.
If you want to calculate it manually, the formulas for isolated futures positions are as follows:
USDT-margined futures
Est. liquidation price for long positions = (margin balance − face value × |number of contracts| × avg. open price) ÷ (face value × |number of contracts| × (position tier mmr% + fee rate − 1))
Est. liquidation price for short positions = (margin balance + face value × |number of contracts| × avg. open price) ÷ (face value × |number of contracts| × (position tier mmr% + fee rate + 1))
Crypto-margined futures
Est. liquidation price for long positions = face value × |number of contracts| × (position tier mmr% + fee rate + 1) ÷ (margin balance + face value × |number of contracts| ÷ avg. open price)
Est. liquidation price for short positions = face value × |number of contracts| × (position tier mmr% + fee rate − 1) ÷ (margin balance − face value × |number of contracts| ÷ avg. open price)
The position tier maintenance margin rate is tiered according to position size and can be viewed on the trading page via Menu(three-dot menu) > Market info > Trading rules.
How do I add margin and reduce liquidation risk?
Isolated margin: select the + next to the position margin to increase or decrease it.
Cross margin under futures mode: transferring the settlement currency into your trading account counts as margin for measuring position risk. There is no separate "+" button.
Multi-currency margin mode: transfer in a currency that has a discount rate, and the system will automatically convert it into effective margin.
Other suggestions:
Judge your risk by the maintenance margin ratio, not only by the estimated liquidation price;
Keep a sufficient available balance before funding fee settlement times;
Reduce your leverage or your position size, and note that large positions move up to higher tiers with higher maintenance margin requirements;
Use isolated margin mode when you need to isolate the risk of an individual position;
On the web, you can limit the maximum leverage or disable certain trading types under Security center > Trading permission settings.
How do I check my liquidation records?
What do you want to check | Where to find it |
|---|---|
Whether you were liquidated, and when | Position history / liquidation records |
Whether it was a partial liquidation | Check the "Forced reduction" record and its price in Order history |
The market at the time of the trigger | Switch the candlestick chart to Mark price and compare against the time in the liquidation record |
Individual fill prices | Order history > Trade details |
Where the funds went, fees and funding fees | Assets > select the bill icon in the top right > Transaction bills, which can be filtered or exported |
Actual realized PnL | Realized PnL in Position history (already includes trading fees and funding fees) |
FAQ
1. I set a stop loss, so why was I still liquidated?
Stop loss and forced liquidation are two independent mechanisms. Whichever condition is met first is executed first, and a stop loss does not exempt you from liquidation. There are four common reasons: your stop loss is triggered by the trigger price type you set (last price / mark price / index price) while liquidation is triggered by the maintenance margin ratio; you only set a stop loss for part of the position; the order generated after the stop loss was triggered did not get filled during volatile market conditions; and the liquidation process cancels orders in the opening direction first.
2. The last price never reached my liquidation price, so why was I liquidated?
Forced liquidation refers to the mark price, not the last traded price — these are two different candlestick charts. Please switch the price type to "Mark price" on the markets page and check again, and make sure the time and the product you are comparing match the liquidation record.
3. Why did the liquidation fill price go beyond the high/low of the candlestick at that time?
There are two situations. First, what is shown in Position history is the weighted average fill price of multiple fills. It is aggregate data and does not correspond to any single real trade in the market, so it can't be compared directly with the extremes on the candlestick chart — for individual fill prices, see Order history > Trade details. Second, the position is taken over by the liquidation engine at a price determined by risk control rules rather than by the order book at that moment, in order to ensure the position is fully taken over and the account doesn't incur debt.
4. My position was closed, but I couldn't find any liquidation record.
It may not have been a liquidation. Common situations include: one of your own orders was filled (TP/SL, limit / market order, or a reverse order under one-way position mode); delivery settlement because the contract expired or the token was delisted (settled and credited at residual value, with no loss of margin); loan LTV liquidation or forced repayment; a position closed by a trading bot; and partial liquidation (only part of the position was reduced, recorded in Order history).
5. Will cross-margin liquidation affect my funding account? Will isolated-margin liquidation lose the other money in my account?
Neither will affect your funding account. Cross margin is collateralized by the corresponding margin currency in your trading account, and liquidation will lose the corresponding margin of that currency. Under isolated margin, each position is accounted for separately, liquidation only loses the margin of that position, and any remaining balance in the position is transferred back to the account balance.
6. What is auto-deleveraging (ADL)? Why was my profitable position reduced?
ADL has nothing to do with your own risk. When the liquidation order of the party at risk is filled but the account is still in deficit and the security fund is not enough to cover the shortfall, the system ranks users by profit rate and leverage and reduces the positions of profitable users on the opposite side to complete the hedge. This is not a liquidation and does not cost you your maintenance margin.
7. Can option buyers be liquidated?
Not under isolated margin and non-portfolio-margin modes — the buyer's initial margin and maintenance margin are both 0, and the maximum loss is the premium already paid. However, it is possible under portfolio margin (PM) mode: in PM, margin is also calculated for long options positions, the calculated margin may exceed the premium paid, and risk from other positions within the same risk unit can be transmitted to it.
8. My position was closed after the contract was delisted. Does that count as liquidation?
No. When a contract expires or a token is delisted, the system automatically performs delivery settlement according to the rules and credits the residual value, with no loss of maintenance margin. For contract expiry delivery, the delivery price is the arithmetic average of the USD index of the token over 30 minutes before delivery (sampled every 200 milliseconds). For token delisting, the settlement time and price basis are subject to the relevant announcement.
9. Is loan forced repayment the same thing as futures liquidation?
No. The risk indicator for loans is LTV. When it reaches the liquidation line, the system automatically sells the collateral to repay the liability, and the maintenance margin ratio and liquidation price formulas do not apply. In addition, under multi-currency margin and portfolio margin modes, liabilities exceeding the interest-free limit will trigger forced repayment, where the system automatically sells positive assets in the account for USDT to repay them.
10. Does interest on spot margin increase liquidation risk? Is there a cap on the rate?
Yes. Interest is added to your liability on an hourly basis, and a growing liability continuously increases liquidation risk. It is calculated as:
interest = interest-bearing liability × annualized borrowing rate ÷ 365 ÷ 24 × hours borrowed, where interest-bearing liability = total borrowed amount − interest-free limit.
The rate is a market-driven floating rate with an annualized cap of 365%, and the real-time rate shown on the page prevails.
11. The "bankruptcy price" I saw was different from the price at which I was actually liquidated.
The "bankruptcy price" is the price at which the margin would be completely wiped out. It is not the same as the liquidation price that actually triggers liquidation, and liquidation always happens before the bankruptcy price. The platform is currently phasing out the bankruptcy price concept: Order history and Position history for isolated positions no longer display the bankruptcy price, and show the mark price at the time of the trigger instead.
12. Will opening a position in a sub-account affect the position tier of my main account?
No. The position tiers of the main account and sub-accounts are calculated separately and don't affect each other. However, if a single user (including the main account and sub-accounts) holds positions and open orders in the same contract that exceed the position limit, the position limit rule for that contract will be triggered, and new orders to open positions from both the main account and the sub-accounts will be rejected by the system. Orders that only close positions aren't affected.
13. Can the platform compensate me for the money I lost in liquidation?
The platform has never required or induced users to engage in futures trading in any form. The trading page and the activation process both clearly disclose the risks of leverage and liquidation, and every trade is made at the user's own discretion, so the platform can't compensate liquidation losses. The platform also doesn't participate in or manipulate market prices — liquidation is based on the mark price, which is calculated by weighting the spot indexes of several leading exchanges, and you can verify it yourself. If you have a specific objection to the price or the amount of a particular liquidation, you can provide the order ID and contact customer support to look into it.