Available Margin & Collateral

What is Available Margin?

Your Available Margin is the amount of margin you can consume to open new positions. If it reaches 0, you get liquidated. You consume available margin when you take risk. You increase available margin when you deposit or lower your risk.

What contributes to my available margin?

1. The market (notional) value of all your spot positions

2. 98% of the market (notional) value of all your loans (lender-side)

3. Vault investments, where the vault token is listed in the spot market

4. All unrealized PnL of your perps

5. The 10 day interest rate on your borrowed positions (subtracted from available margin)

6. Hedged positions of a common underlying asset. For example, if you hold ETH and are short an ETHUSD perp, the notional which is hedged counts towards your available margin.

These variables all add up to your available.

How is it calculated?

The risk-adjusted value of a position is simply the value of a position after factoring in a sharp price movement against it. In general, the more volatile an asset, the more available margin will consume.

Each underlying asset is assigned a risk score, which enters into the equation. The risk scores are published on the Stats page of the UI.

You can see how your margin is computed on the Margin Calculation tab in the UI.

The following portfolio results in the following margin calculation.

The USDM spot contributes in full to the available margin because it is a spot position.

The ETH loans and the short ETHUSD perp net out, also contributing to available margin. The margin calculation shown above looks at the net market exposure to ETH in this portfolio. In this case, the direction is net long because the ETH loans are larger than the short ETHUSD perp. Because the direction is net long, the margin calculation values those positions at a "shock price" below the market price. If the positions were net short, the margin calculator would value the positions above the market price. In this case, at the shock price, the ETH spot position would worth $2,287.68, the ETH loans would be worth $2,122.31 and the short ETHUSD perp would be worth $360.40.

The short BTCUSD perp is directionally short, with no hedging position (i.e. no spot or loan positions to offset the net market exposure). The margin calculator therefore values this position at a shock price above the market price, which would result in a $9,015.64 loss. $9,015.64 is then subtracted from available margin.

You can use the Bundle Mode feature to experiment with different portfolios and trade bundles.

The math is detailed in Risk Based Portfolio Valuation.

Are there leverage limits?

Most exchanges manage risk by setting lower leverage limits for risker assets. On WCM, riskier assets consume more available margin, which enforces a natural limit. If you have a well balanced portfolio, the limits are higher.

Can I isolate positions?

While it is less capital efficient, if you want to isolate positions, we recommend using Sub-accounts. You can create a new sub-account, transfer assets from your main account to the sub-account, and trade there. The positions in a sub-account are isolated from your main account and all other sub-accounts.

What assets are eligible for collateral?

Assets are eligible as collateral if and only if they are listed in the spot market. All assets listed in the spot market are eligible as collateral, including vault tokens.

How is unrealized PnL treated?

Unrealized PnL contributes 100% to available margin.