Perps positions are funded by margin, not by the full value of the position. This article explains the numbers the app shows you and what happens if your account runs out of margin.
The numbers in your account panel
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Account Equity | Your balance plus unrealized PnL — what your account is worth right now. |
| Available Margin | Equity that is not already committed to positions and orders. New orders draw from this. |
| Unrealized PnL | Profit or loss on open positions at the current mark price. |
| Maintenance Margin | The minimum margin your open positions must be backed by. |
| Cross Margin Ratio | The ratio of your account equity to your maintenance margin. |
| Margin Usage | How much of your available margin is in use. It turns yellow at 60% and red at 80%. |
| Health | How close your account is to liquidation, as a score out of 100. It compares the maintenance margin your positions require with your account equity: if the requirement is 10% of your equity, Health is 90/100. If your equity cannot cover the requirement, Health is 0/100. |
Health and Margin Usage measure different things. Margin Usage tells you how much room you have left to open new positions. Health tells you how close your open positions are to liquidation, and it counts unrealized PnL. An account that has no room to open anything new can still show high Health while it is in profit, so watch both numbers.
Cross margin
Positions use cross margin: all of your positions share one pool of account equity. Profit on one position supports another, but a loss on one also reduces the margin backing every other position. Isolated margin appears in the margin-mode selector but is currently disabled — the app shows "This option is currently not available."
Leverage
Leverage is selectable from 1x upward in 0.1x steps, and the maximum available depends on the market. Higher leverage means a smaller price move is enough to consume your margin, so it directly moves your liquidation price closer to the current price.
Liquidation price
Before you submit an order, the trade summary shows Required Margin, Fees, estimated slippage and an estimated Liquidation Price for the resulting position. Your open positions also show a Liq. Price column, and the chart draws a liquidation-price line so you can see it against price action.
The liquidation price is an estimate that moves as your account changes. It depends on:
- the size of the position (and of your other positions),
- the index price and its confidence,
- the market's maintenance-margin factor,
- your account equity, and
- the maintenance margin required by your other positions.
Depositing more collateral, reducing size or closing another losing position all push your liquidation price further away. Withdrawing collateral or adding exposure pulls it closer.
What liquidation looks like
If your equity can no longer cover the maintenance margin of your positions, the position is liquidated — closed automatically at market. Liquidations appear in your activity history as Position liquidated. You keep whatever equity remains after the position is closed and fees are applied.
How to reduce risk before it gets there
- Watch Health and Margin Usage rather than only unrealized PnL.
- Set a Stop Loss so an adverse move exits at a price you chose (up to 16 TP/SL triggers per position).
- Reduce your position size — partial closes are available from the positions table.
- Deposit more USDC to raise account equity.
- Remember that funding payments and fees also draw on your equity while a position is open.
If you try to open an order you cannot back, the app rejects it with "Not enough available margin."