What is Maintenance Margin?
The minimum account balance required to keep a leveraged position open — falling below this triggers liquidation.
When trading with leverage, exchanges require you to maintain a minimum balance relative to your position size. This minimum is called the maintenance margin.
Initial vs. maintenance margin:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Initial margin | Required to open a position |
| Maintenance margin | Minimum to keep it open |
If your account equity drops below the maintenance margin, the exchange issues a margin call (warning) and then liquidates your position.
Typical rates (varies by exchange and leverage):
| Leverage | Initial Margin | Maintenance Margin |
|---|---|---|
| 5× | 20% | 0.5–1% |
| 10× | 10% | 0.5–1% |
| 20× | 5% | 0.5–1% |
| 100× | 1% | 0.5% |
Practical implication:
The maintenance margin is built into the liquidation price formula. A 0.5% maintenance margin means your liquidation hits slightly before you'd expect from a pure leverage calculation. Always account for this when setting stop-losses.