How to avoid liquidation on Hyperliquid
You are liquidated when account equity falls below maintenance margin, which is half the initial margin at the asset's maximum leverage (1.25% of notional for BTC). Use lower leverage, isolated margin and a stop loss that triggers well before the liquidation price.
How liquidation works
Maintenance margin on Hyperliquid is half the initial margin at an asset's maximum leverage. BTC allows up to 40x, so maintenance is 1.25% of notional; ETH (25x) is 2%; SOL (20x) is 2.5%; HYPE and many other markets (10x) are 5%. Larger positions move into higher margin tiers with lower maximum leverage.
When equity drops below maintenance margin, liquidation is triggered using the mark price, which combines external exchange prices with Hyperliquid's own book:
- Book liquidation: the system sends market orders to close the position. For positions above 100,000 USDC, only 20% is sent to the book at first; for the next 30 seconds, any further liquidation orders cover the whole position. If the close leaves you above maintenance, you keep the remaining collateral.
- Backstop liquidation: if equity falls below two-thirds of maintenance margin, the liquidator vault (part of HLP) takes over the position and the maintenance margin is not returned. In cross margin, all cross positions and cross margin go with it.
The docs state there is no separate clearance fee. The full process is explained on Hyperliquid liquidation.
Estimating the liquidation price
For an isolated position with no extra margin added and fees ignored, a close approximation is:
- Long: liquidation ≈ entry × (1 − 1/leverage) ÷ (1 − maintenance rate)
- Short: liquidation ≈ entry × (1 + 1/leverage) ÷ (1 + maintenance rate)
Hypothetical BTC long, $10,000 notional at an entry of $100,000, maintenance rate 1.25%:
| Leverage | Margin | Approx. liquidation | Move to liquidation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3x | $3,333 | $67,511 | −32.5% |
| 10x | $1,000 | $91,139 | −8.9% |
| 20x | $500 | $96,203 | −3.8% |
| 40x | $250 | $98,734 | −1.3% |
For a 3x HYPE long (5% maintenance) the move to liquidation is about −29.8%. In cross margin the liquidation price depends on your whole account balance and other positions, so it moves as they do. Use the liquidation calculator for your own numbers.
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Open HyperliquidPractical ways to avoid it
- Size first, leverage second. Pick position size from your stop (see risk management), then use the lowest leverage that fits your margin.
- Always set a stop loss well inside the liquidation price. A stop that fills at a loss keeps your remaining margin; a backstop liquidation does not. See TP/SL orders.
- Use isolated margin for speculative trades so one position cannot pull down the rest of the account.
- Leave a buffer for wicks. Mark price can differ from the last traded price during volatility. A stop a fraction of a percent from liquidation offers little protection.
- Watch funding on long holds. Hourly funding payments reduce margin in isolated positions and can slowly drag the liquidation price closer.
- Add margin or cut size early, not at the last minute when the book is thin.
A reminder from October 2025
During the market-wide crash of 10 October 2025, Hyperliquid used auto-deleveraging on cross-margin positions for the first time in its history; one academic analysis estimated about $2.1 billion of positions were closed by auto-deleveraging in roughly 12 minutes. Fast markets gap through stops and liquidation levels. Low leverage is the only protection that works when everything moves at once.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maintenance margin on Hyperliquid?
Half the initial margin at the asset's maximum leverage: 1.25% of notional for BTC (40x), 2% for ETH (25x), 2.5% for SOL (20x) and 5% for 10x markets such as HYPE, at the lowest size tier.
Do I lose everything when liquidated?
Not always. If the book liquidation closes your position while you are still above maintenance margin you keep the rest. In a backstop liquidation the maintenance margin is not returned, and in cross margin all cross positions go to the liquidator.
Does isolated margin prevent liquidation?
No. It limits the loss to the margin assigned to that position, which protects the rest of your account.
Is liquidation based on the last traded price?
No. Hyperliquid uses the mark price, which combines external exchange prices with its own order book.