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What Is Maintenance Margin?

Updated May 2026 — NYXANCE Glossary

Maintenance margin is the minimum margin balance required to keep a leveraged position open. It is lower than the initial margin requirement needed to open the position. When your margin balance falls to or below the maintenance margin level, the exchange triggers liquidation of your position (or a portion of it).

Think of initial margin as the entrance fee and maintenance margin as the floor — fall below it, and the exchange closes you out.

Maintenance Margin Rate

Maintenance margin is expressed as a percentage of notional position value:

Maintenance Margin Required = Position Notional × Maintenance Margin Rate

Typical maintenance margin rates by asset class:

These rates also scale with position size under dynamic margin tiers — larger positions have higher maintenance margin rates.

How Maintenance Margin Relates to Liquidation

The maintenance margin level directly determines your liquidation price.

Long position liquidation mechanics:

At entry:

• You have $5,000 initial margin
• $100,000 notional position (20× leverage)
• Maintenance margin rate: 0.5%
• Maintenance margin required: $100,000 × 0.5% = $500

Liquidation is triggered when your margin balance reaches $500. Since you started with $5,000, you can absorb up to $4,500 in losses before liquidation — which corresponds to a 4.5% move against you.

Approximate relationship:

Max Loss Before Liquidation ≈ Initial Margin - Maintenance Margin = (1/Leverage - Maintenance Rate) × Notional

Maintenance Margin Buffer

The difference between initial margin and maintenance margin is your "buffer" — the room to absorb price movements before liquidation:

Margin Buffer = Initial Margin Rate - Maintenance Margin Rate

At 20× leverage:

• Initial margin rate: 5%
• Maintenance margin rate: 0.5%
• Buffer: 4.5% of notional

At 100× leverage:

• Initial margin rate: 1%
• Maintenance margin rate: 0.5%
• Buffer: 0.5% of notional — a mere half-percent move liquidates the position.

This is why extremely high leverage (50×–125×) is dangerous for anything other than very short-duration trades: there is virtually no margin buffer.

Margin Calls

On traditional brokerage platforms, brokers send a margin call — a notification requiring you to deposit additional funds within a time window before liquidation. Most crypto exchanges do not offer a grace period; if your margin falls below maintenance level, liquidation is immediate and automatic.

Crypto exchanges do, however, often provide:

• Warning alerts (email, push notification) when margin utilization reaches 80%–90%
• Position reduction (partial liquidation) for very large positions before full liquidation
• Add margin buttons in isolated mode to top up a threatened position manually

Maintenance Margin in Cross vs Isolated Mode

Cross margin: Your maintenance margin is evaluated against your total margin balance, including unrealized PnL from all positions. A profitable BTC long can sustain a losing ETH short before either reaches maintenance margin.

Isolated margin: Maintenance margin is evaluated against only the dedicated margin for that position. Other positions provide no support.

See: What Is Cross vs Isolated Margin?

Maintenance Margin vs. Variation Margin

In traditional cleared derivatives (CME, Eurex), there is a formal distinction:

• Initial margin (SPAN): upfront deposit
• Variation margin: daily cash settlement of gains and losses
• Maintenance margin: threshold below which a margin call is triggered

Crypto perpetuals collapse variation margin into a real-time mark-to-market system where unrealized PnL is reflected instantly in your margin balance, effectively combining the variation margin and maintenance margin concepts into a single continuous monitoring system.

Practical Advice

1. Never hold a position with margin utilization above 80%. The remaining buffer is too thin for overnight volatility.

2. Set stop-losses above liquidation price. Let your risk management decide the exit, not the engine.

3. Account for funding costs. In cross margin mode, accumulated funding payments drain your margin balance and move your effective maintenance margin threshold over time.

4. Use the liquidation calculator. Before entering any position, confirm your liquidation price using the exchange's built-in calculator or the formula above.

Related Concepts

• What Is Initial Margin Requirement?
• What Is Liquidation Price?
• What Is Dynamic Margin Tier?
• What Is Cross vs Isolated Margin?

NYXANCE shows real-time margin utilization and maintenance margin levels for every open position. Margin alerts are sent at 80% utilization. Open an account.

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