Aster margin and liquidation: what actually puts a position at risk

Liquidation depends on margin, not just leverage

Aster describes liquidation as the point where margin is insufficient for the required maintenance margin. Mark price is used in the liquidation process. A simple “entry price minus one divided by leverage” calculation misses maintenance requirements, fees, funding and account interactions.

For that reason, AsterAtlas provides position sizing and P&L scenarios rather than presenting an approximate liquidation price as an exchange-accurate boundary. The venue’s current account calculation is the reference for an open position.

Cross and isolated are different boundaries

Cross margin shares account resources across relevant positions. Losses elsewhere or a change in collateral value can affect the buffer supporting a particular trade. Isolated margin allocates margin to a position, but it does not remove liquidation risk or guarantee a particular closing price.

Think in terms of resources at risk. For a cross-margin account, inspect the portfolio rather than only one market. For an isolated position, inspect the margin assigned to that position and any settings that could change it. Margin mode is not a substitute for choosing a manageable position size.

Watch the moving inputs

• Mark price: the liquidation reference can differ from the last traded price.
• Maintenance requirements: the applicable tier matters for the position.
• Funding and fees: costs reduce resources available to support exposure.
• Collateral: its price and accepted collateral value can change the account buffer.
• Other positions: cross-margin interactions can change risk without a trade in this symbol.

Aster’s liquidation process can include order cancellation, attempted partial closing, insurance-fund handling and auto-deleveraging. Do not assume liquidation is a clean stop at a displayed number.

A loss-budget example

Suppose you choose a 100-unit loss budget, an entry of 100 and a stop at 98. Ignoring fees, 50 units of the asset would lose 100 at that stop, representing 5,000 notional. At 10× leverage the simple initial-margin estimate is 500; leverage changes that margin estimate, not the 100-unit planned price loss.

Fees and execution beyond the stop increase the loss. Test a worse exit price in the P&L tool and check whether you could withstand it. A planned stop does not establish where the exchange will liquidate the position.

Common questions

Continue exploring

• Aster market and limit orders: execution before fee savings
• USDF and asBNB collateral: understand the second layer of risk
• Aster funding rates: payments, intervals and holding costs