Liquidation trigger
For cross margin: an account is liquidated when its maintenance margin ratio (MMR) drops below 100%. MMR is defined as:Five layers of protection
Layer 1 — Risk warning and active intervention
MMR > 150%— free to trade.120% < MMR ≤ 150%— risk warning. WebSocket, push, and UI notifications fire, suggesting the user add margin, reduce leverage, or close positions. Notifications are throttled to at most one every 30 minutes.100% < MMR ≤ 120%(cross only) — new opening orders are blocked. Only closing orders are accepted, so the user cannot make the situation worse.MMR ≤ 100%— liquidation begins.
Layer 2 — Self-recovery attempt
On first entry into liquidation, Intention first tries to let the account save itself:Cancel orders
Cancel open orders (all orders in cross mode; orders for the affected symbol and side in isolated mode). If the cancellation alone restores MMR above 100%, liquidation ends here.
Auto-add margin
For isolated positions with auto-replenishment enabled, transfer
initial_margin + reserved_close_fee from free balance (or whatever remains). If this restores MMR, liquidation ends.Self-cross long and short
For cross-margin hedge mode, match offsetting long and short positions against each other directly at mark price. This reduces gross exposure without touching the public book.
Layer 3 — Tiered order-book liquidation
Tagged accounts are liquidated in steps, one block at a time, by sending IOC limit orders to the public book at the position’s bankruptcy price. The sizing rule prevents catastrophic market impact:- MMR < 66.7%. Full takeover by the vault (skip to Layer 4).
- Single position ≤ $100k. Submit a full-size IOC limit in one block.
- Single position > $100k. Submit an IOC for
min(max_single_order, 20% × position, distance_to_next_risk_tier).
Layer 4 — Liquidation vault takeover
If MMR drops below 66.7% or the position is small enough, the liquidation vault (LP) takes the entire position off the account at the bankruptcy price. Vault takeovers do not appear on the public tape or K-line — the transfer is internal and executes off-book. The liquidation vault exists to absorb bad debt from liquidations that the public book cannot clear fast enough. It is funded by trading-fee allocations and by the profits of everyday liquidations that do clear at better-than-bankruptcy prices.Layer 5 — ADL
If the vault cannot safely hold more of a position — because it is already near its configured OI limit for that contract or because it has drawn down too much in a rolling window — Intention falls back to Auto-Deleveraging (ADL), which closes counterpart profitable positions directly at the bankruptcy price.Behavior while liquidating
While an account is tagged “liquidating,” Intention enforces a strict behavior matrix:| Action | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| Open new positions | No |
| Withdraw margin | No |
| Place orders | No (all open orders are cancelled) |
| Add margin | Yes |
Cross and isolated coexistence
If an account holds both cross-margin and isolated positions, liquidation for each is independent. A cross-margin liquidation does not affect isolated positions (and vice versa). When the cross-margin side is mid-liquidation, isolated positions cannot auto-add margin from the shared wallet — the cross-margin process holds the free balance.What users should do
- Watch MMR proactively. The 150% warning is there for a reason.
- Consider enabling auto-replenishment on isolated positions that you cannot monitor.
- Pre-set stop-losses so you exit before a position ever reaches the liquidation price.
- In cross mode, remember that a single bad position can drag the whole account.