Hyperliquid Architecture · HyperCore & HyperEVM · 6/8
Margin & Liquidations
Margin System
Hyperliquid uses cross margin by default, where your cross positions share the same collateral pool. You can also use isolated margin for individual positions.
Cross Margin
Account Value = Collateral + Unrealized PnL (all cross positions)
Initial Margin = Sum of (Position Notional / Leverage)
Maintenance Margin = Sum of (Position Notional * Maintenance Margin Rate)
Liquidation when Account Value < Maintenance Margin
With cross margin, profits from one position can offset losses in another. This is capital-efficient but means a single bad position can affect your entire cross account.
Isolated Margin
Each position has its own dedicated margin. If one isolated position gets liquidated, it doesn't affect others. The trade-off is lower capital efficiency.
Leverage
Maximum leverage varies by asset based on liquidity. As of October 2026, the live meta endpoint of the info API showed:
| Asset | Max Leverage |
|---|---|
| BTC | 40x |
| ETH | 25x |
| SOL | 20x |
| HYPE | 10x |
| Most altcoins | 3-10x |
Larger positions fall into margin tiers with lower maximum leverage. HIP-3 markets set their own limits.
Liquidation Mechanics
The maintenance margin rate is half of the initial margin at the asset's maximum leverage (for example, 1.25% for a 40x asset). When account value falls below maintenance margin:
- Liquidation Trigger — Account value (or isolated margin plus PnL) falls below maintenance margin, measured with the mark price
- Liquidation on the Book — The engine sends market orders to the order book to close the position. For positions above 100k USDC, only 20% is sent at first, followed by a 30-second cooldown. Any collateral left after closing stays with the trader
- Backstop Liquidation — If account value falls below 2/3 of maintenance margin without a successful book liquidation, the liquidator vault (part of the community-owned HLP vault) takes over the positions and the remaining margin
- ADL (Auto-Deleveraging) — If an account's value goes negative, profitable traders on the opposite side are ranked by profit and leverage, and their positions are closed against the underwater account. This guarantees the platform carries no bad debt
There is no separate insurance fund; the liquidator vault and ADL play that role.
Liquidation Price (Isolated Long, Simplified)
Ignoring funding and fees:
Liquidation Price = Entry Price * (1 - 1/leverage) / (1 - maintenance_rate)
For a 10x isolated long at $100 entry on an asset with 2.5% maintenance margin (20x max leverage):
Liq Price = 100 * (1 - 0.1) / (1 - 0.025) ≈ $92.31
For cross positions, the liquidation price depends on the whole account, not the leverage you set. See the liquidation docs for the exact formula.
Oracle System
Hyperliquid uses a validator-published oracle. Every 3 seconds, each validator computes a spot price as a weighted median of several centralized exchanges (and Hyperliquid spot, where relevant), and the final oracle price is the stake-weighted median of all validators' submissions. The oracle price is used for:
- Funding rate calculations
- Mark price computation (mark price combines the oracle with order book and external perp prices)
- Through the mark price, margining, liquidation triggers, and TP/SL triggers