# Cross-Margin vs Isolated Margin ### What Is Margin? Margin is the collateral you use to open leveraged positions.\ How your collateral is allocated determines your risk — and whether a loss in one position affects others. There are two main systems: * Cross-Margin * Isolated Margin ### Cross-Margin In cross-margin, your entire account balance acts as collateral for all open positions. #### Advantages * Harder to get liquidated (you have more margin) * Smooths volatility across multiple trades * Ideal for hedged or diversified portfolios #### Risks * A large loss in one position can drain your entire balance * You must monitor your total exposure, not just individual positions #### Example You have $10,000 on your account.\ You open a $1,000 ETH long.\ If it goes badly, your liquidation price won’t be based on $1,000, it's based on your whole balance. This reduces liquidation risk, but increases “everything is connected” risk. ### Isolated Margin In isolated margin, each position has its own collateral, separate from the rest of your account. #### Advantages * Losses are contained to the single position * You can set different margin allocations for each trade * Safer for high-leverage or short-term trades #### Risks * Much easier to liquidate * If the position moves against you, it dies quickly unless you add more margin #### Example You open a $500 BTC long with isolated margin.\ Only those $500 matter.\ If that position fails, your other funds remain untouched. ### Which One Should You Use? * **Cross** for larger, longer-term, diversified positions. * **Isolated** for high-leverage plays or when you want to cap risk precisely. Understanding margin modes is crucial for survival in leveraged markets. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://supercexy.gitbook.io/supercexy-docs/knowledge-base/cross-margin-vs-isolated-margin.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.