> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.intention.xyz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Withdraw > Moving collateral off the exchange: what you can withdraw with a position open, the two-phase path out, and how long it takes. Withdrawing sends collateral from your Intention account back to an external chain. ## Withdraw You cannot withdraw margin that is supporting an open position past its maintenance requirement. [Close](/help/close-position) or reduce positions first if you want the full balance out. In the account panel on the right of the trading screen. Check the chain as carefully as the address. An address valid on one chain is usually valid on another and controlled by nobody there. Withdrawals require their own signature every time. Your [session signature](/help/session-signature) authorizes trading and cannot move funds out — this is deliberate, and it is what stops a compromised session draining your account. The request is registered on the destination chain, a dispute period elapses, and only then are funds released. See below. ## How much you can withdraw With no open positions, your whole balance. With a position open, only what is not supporting it. The exchange shows available balance under **Balances**; the difference between that and your total is margin backing your positions. Withdrawing to the edge of what is permitted moves your [liquidation price](/trading/liquidations) closer. Taking out every spare dollar while holding a leveraged position leaves nothing absorbing an adverse move. Withdraw with the position's health in mind, not just the number the field will accept. ## Why it is not instant A withdrawal runs in two phases with a **dispute period** between them. The request is signed by validators and registered on the external chain, but it does not pay out until a configured period has elapsed — during which it can be cancelled. This is deliberate. Every catastrophic bridge failure has the same shape: an attacker gains the ability to authorize a withdrawal, and the funds are gone in the same block. A dispute period converts an instant, irreversible loss into a window where the problem can be caught. The cost is that legitimate withdrawals wait too. Withdrawals are also **batched** rather than sent one transaction each, which is why external-chain costs do not scale with the number of withdrawals. ## What it costs A **flat protocol fee**, deducted from the amount at the moment your balance is debited — so the destination receives your amount minus the fee. You also pay the destination chain's gas. Flat rather than percentage because the cost being recovered is submitting an external-chain transaction, which does not get more expensive as the amount grows. See [Non-trading fees](/programs/other-fees). There is a **minimum withdrawal**, for the same reason there is a minimum deposit. ## If it is taking too long The dispute period means "pending" is the normal state for a while. [Withdrawal pending](/help/withdrawal-pending) has the stage-by-stage breakdown and when the delay stops being expected. Failures are explicit rather than silent — a withdrawal that cannot be finalized reports an error rather than disappearing, so *stuck* and *rejected* are distinguishable. ## Where to go next Which stage it is in, and when to escalate. What is recoverable and what is not. The withdrawal fee and minimums. The dispute period and who can stop a withdrawal.