Cross vs Isolated Margin: Which Should You Use?
Every crypto futures exchange asks you to pick a margin mode — cross or isolated — before you trade. The choice changes how much of your money is at risk and where you get liquidated. Here's the plain-English difference and how to decide.
Isolated margin
With isolated margin, only the margin you assign to a position can be lost. If the trade gets liquidated, that's the most you lose — the rest of your account is untouched. The trade-off is that your liquidation price sits closer to entry, because only that slice of money is backing the position.
Best for: beginners, high-conviction single trades, and anyone who wants a hard cap on the downside of one position.
Cross margin
With cross margin, your entire available balance backs the position. That pushes the liquidation price further away — a winning balance can absorb a bigger drawdown before liquidation. But the danger is real: a single runaway trade can drain your whole account, and multiple positions share the same collateral.
Best for: experienced traders hedging multiple positions, or those who actively manage margin and understand the account-wide risk.
How it affects liquidation
Margin mode directly moves your liquidation price. Our calculator uses the conservative isolated-margin estimate, which is the right default for risk planning. Whatever mode you choose, run the numbers first.
Check your liquidation price and size by risk in seconds — isolated or cross.
Open the calculators →Quick rule of thumb
- Learning, or one big trade you want to contain → isolated.
- Hedging several positions and actively managing margin → cross.
- Either way, keep leverage modest and always know your liquidation price.