Every perpetual position stands on margin, and the margin mode decides how much of your wallet a losing position can reach. Isolated limits the damage to one position. Cross lets positions share one pool, which keeps them open longer and makes the failure bigger when it comes.
Both modes use the same leverage, the same prices and the same fees. They differ in what backs a position and what a liquidation takes.
An isolated liquidation takes that position's margin and nothing else. A cross liquidation closes every cross position together and takes the whole shared pool, including margin that was backing positions that were in profit.
An isolated position's liquidation price is fixed when it opens, set by leverage and the pair's maintenance rate. A cross position can draw on the whole pool, so it usually sits further from liquidation at the same leverage.
In cross, the pool is judged on its balance plus the unrealized P&L of every cross position. A long that is up can carry a short that is down. In isolated, each position stands alone.
An isolated position pays funding from its own margin, which nudges its liquidation price toward the market. A cross position pays from the wallet, so the cost is spread across everything the pool backs.
A paper futures wallet makes the expensive lesson free. No exchange account and no API key.
In the Vectixs paper futures wallet, open a long on one pair in isolated mode and a long of the same size on another pair in cross mode. Margin mode is chosen per pair.
The isolated position shows one liquidation price that stays put. The cross position's figure depends on the pool and moves as the pool and the other cross positions change.
Open another cross position and watch the shared margin ratio. When it reaches 100%, every cross position closes at once. Paper is the place to see that happen the first time.
Numbers make the difference concrete. The pair below has a 0.5% maintenance margin, and every figure follows from the same formulas the paper wallet uses.
Start with a futures wallet of 1,000 USDT. Open a long worth 1,000 USDT at 10x on a coin priced at 100, which takes 100 USDT of margin. Then open a short worth 1,000 USDT at 10x on a second coin, also priced at 100, for another 100 USDT.
In isolated mode, each position stands on its own 100 USDT, and the other 800 USDT is untouched. In cross mode, both stand on the whole 1,000 USDT, less anything orders or isolated positions elsewhere are holding back.
The isolated long is liquidated at 100 × (1 − 1/10 + 0.005), which is 90.50. If the first coin falls there, the long closes and its 100 USDT is gone. The short and the remaining 800 USDT are unaffected.
That is the whole appeal: the worst case was known before the trade, and it was 100 USDT. The cost is that the long could not borrow from the 800 USDT sitting idle beside it, even though a little more margin would have carried it through the dip.
In cross mode, the same fall to 90.50 costs the long about 95 USDT on paper, and the pool absorbs it. Nothing closes. If the second coin fell at the same time, the short's gain would add to the pool and push liquidation further away still.
The danger shows up when both positions lose together. The pool keeps paying until its balance plus every cross position's unrealized P&L falls to the combined maintenance requirement. At that moment both positions close and the pool is lost, which can be most of the 1,000 USDT rather than 100.
A cross position has no single liquidation price you can rely on, so the number to watch is the margin ratio: the pool's maintenance requirement as a share of what the pool has left. At 100%, every cross position is liquidated together.
The ratio rises when cross positions lose, when funding is paid from the wallet, and when margin leaves the pool for an isolated position or a resting order. A profit on one cross position lowers it, but that profit cannot be withdrawn until the position is closed.
How the two modes treat the same position, setting by setting.
| Question | Isolated | Cross |
|---|---|---|
| What backs the position | Its own margin only | The shared pool |
| Most it can lose | Its own margin | The whole pool |
| Liquidation price | Fixed at open | Depends on the pool |
| Profit on another position | No effect | Holds off liquidation |
| Funding paid from | The position's margin | The wallet |
| What closes at liquidation | That one position | Every cross position |
| Futures bots | Allowed | Refused |
| When you can switch | Nothing open on the pair | Nothing open on the pair |
Leverage, fees, fills and the mark price are the same in both modes. Only the margin behind a position, and what a liquidation takes, differ.
The Vectixs paper futures wallet follows Bitfinex's USDT perpetuals: each pair's own maintenance margin, its maximum leverage, its mark price and its 8-hourly funding. Both margin modes are available on every pair.
The wallet sits beside a spot paper balance in the same account. Moving money between the two is a transfer, not a gain or a loss, and no step needs an exchange account.
For an isolated position, you can work out the liquidation price before you open it with the liquidation price calculator.
Isolated margin gives each position its own margin, and a liquidation can take only that. Cross margin backs positions with one shared pool, so profits and losses offset each other, and a liquidation closes every cross position and takes the whole pool.
It is easier to bound. The most an isolated position can lose is printed before you open it. Cross positions usually survive bigger moves at the same leverage, but when the pool fails the loss is larger. Which suits you depends on whether you want a known worst case or more room.
Because it depends on the whole pool. A transfer into the wallet, a profit on another cross position or a new isolated position that takes margin out of the pool all move it. An isolated position's liquidation price stays put unless you add to the position or funding is paid or received.
On Vectixs paper futures, margin mode is set per pair and can be changed only while nothing is open on that pair. Close the position or wait until it is flat, then switch.
No. Futures bots on Vectixs run on isolated margin only and refuse a pair set to cross. A bot's worst case should be readable from its own settings, which a shared pool would make impossible.
No. Margin mode decides what backs a position. Position mode decides whether a pair holds one net position (One-way) or a separate long and short (Hedge). Either margin mode works with either position mode.
No. Leverage is set per pair in both modes and decides how much margin an order needs. Cross only changes what stands behind the position once it is open.
Not with a single formula, because it depends on the whole pool and every other cross position. The liquidation price calculator covers isolated positions. For cross, the futures ticket shows the margin ratio for your actual paper wallet.