Cross margin vs isolated margin: what's the difference?
Cross margin shares one pool of margin between your positions; isolated margin gives each its own. How each one fails, and when to use which.
Updated Nov 10, 2026
In short
On a perp DEX or exchange, margin is what backs your leveraged positions. With cross margin, all your positions share one pool, so profits on one support the others, but a big loss on one can liquidate them all. With isolated margin, each position has its own margin and can only lose that. Cross is more forgiving day to day; isolated limits the damage when one trade goes badly wrong.
Cross margin
All your cross positions draw on one pool: your account's equity. A long that's losing is held up by a short that's winning, and by any spare margin in the account. Positions are harder to liquidate, and you don't have to top each one up separately.
The cost: when the account as a whole falls below its maintenance margin, everything on cross can be liquidated together. One bad trade can take the others with it.
Isolated margin
Each isolated position has its own margin, set when you open it. It can only lose that amount; the rest of your account is safe. The position is also easier to liquidate, because it can't borrow from anything else. To keep it open in a bad move, you add margin to that position yourself.
Which to use
- Hedges and positions that offset each other usually sit better on cross, where gains on one support the other.
- A speculative trade you want to cap suits isolated: you decide in advance the most it can lose.
- Either way, know your liquidation price and keep it far away.
In Burokku
Every open perp across Hyperliquid, Lighter, Aster and your exchanges shows its liquidation price and how far away it is, and a perp liquidation alert tells you on Telegram, push or email when any of them gets close.
Questions
- Which one is safer?
- It depends on what you're protecting. Isolated margin caps what one position can lose. Cross margin makes each position harder to liquidate, because it can draw on the whole account, but if things go badly, more is at stake.
- Can I have both at once?
- On most venues, yes: some positions on cross, others isolated. On Hyperliquid, a backstop liquidation of cross positions takes all your cross positions and cross margin; isolated positions and their margin are untouched.