Understanding margin, account health and liquidation
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. Both count unrealized PnL: profit on open
positions adds to the margin available for new orders, and losses reduce it. Watch both numbers.
Unrealized profit, withdrawals and transfers
Unrealized profit can back new orders, but you cannot withdraw it or move it to another account until it is realized.
Withdrawals, sends to another N1 account and transfers between your perps accounts are limited so that, after the
transfer:
- your USDC balance, without unrealized profit, still covers the margin your open positions require, and
- your account leverage stays at 10x or below.
The MAX amount already applies these limits. To withdraw profit, close or reduce the position first so the profit is
added to your USDC balance.
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."