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  "id": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin",
  "canonical": "https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/initial-vs-maintenance-margin/",
  "collection": "defi",
  "title": "Initial and maintenance margin: opening a position versus keeping it",
  "description": "Explain why opening a position and keeping it open use different tests, and why liquidation can occur while equity remains positive.",
  "aliases": [
    "initial maintenance margin difference",
    "why liquidation happens before balance reaches zero"
  ],
  "dates": {
    "published": "2026-10-02",
    "modified": "2026-10-02",
    "verified": "2026-10-02T19:18:00.092Z",
    "dataAsOf": "2026-10-02"
  },
  "authorship": {
    "publisher": "Degrees of Satoshi editorial project",
    "process": "AI-assisted research and drafting with a separate automated source-verification pass; no external expert or named human review is implied."
  },
  "quickAnswer": {
    "text": "Initial margin is the requirement for opening or increasing exposure. Maintenance margin is the minimum equity requirement for keeping exposure open under the venue’s risk rules. An account can fall below maintenance while still having positive equity, so liquidation is not restricted to accounts that have already lost everything.",
    "claimId": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-quick-answer",
    "sourceIds": [
      "x425-defi-dydx-markets",
      "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation"
    ]
  },
  "keyFacts": [
    {
      "label": "Opening",
      "value": "Initial margin constrains new exposure.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "x425-defi-dydx-markets"
      ],
      "id": "opening",
      "claimId": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-fact-opening"
    },
    {
      "label": "Ongoing",
      "value": "Maintenance is evaluated against current account value.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation"
      ],
      "id": "ongoing",
      "claimId": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-fact-ongoing"
    },
    {
      "label": "Reduction",
      "value": "A liquidation can close part or all of a position.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation"
      ],
      "id": "reduction",
      "claimId": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-fact-reduction"
    }
  ],
  "prerequisites": [
    "leverage-margin-notional"
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "example",
      "heading": "Positive equity can still be insufficient",
      "sourceIds": [
        "x425-defi-dydx-markets",
        "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation"
      ],
      "paragraphs": [
        "Take a hypothetical 10,000 current notional with a 10% initial requirement and a 6% maintenance requirement. Those requirements are 1,000 and 600 respectively. Equity of 550 is positive but below the 600 maintenance requirement.",
        "These rates are invented for arithmetic. Actual requirements can depend on market, size, governance and account configuration; they are not universal dYdX parameters."
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "dynamic",
      "heading": "Requirements move with the account",
      "sourceIds": [
        "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation"
      ],
      "paragraphs": [
        "If notional is price-dependent, maintenance also changes with price. Other positions affect cross-account calculations. This makes an entry-price percentage shortcut unreliable for predicting the exact liquidation point."
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "execution",
      "heading": "The threshold and the closing trade differ",
      "sourceIds": [
        "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation"
      ],
      "paragraphs": [
        "The cited liquidation engine produces orders to match available liquidity using its fillable-price rules. Crossing the maintenance boundary does not guarantee a close at the oracle price or preservation of a particular residual balance. Penalties and market execution influence the outcome."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "question": "If I cannot open another position, am I already liquidatable?",
      "answer": "Not necessarily. Opening and maintenance tests differ. Read both requirements and current equity rather than treating an order rejection as proof of liquidation status.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "x425-defi-dydx-markets",
        "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-quick-answer",
      "articleSlug": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin",
      "statement": "Initial margin is the requirement for opening or increasing exposure. Maintenance margin is the minimum equity requirement for keeping exposure open under the venue’s risk rules. An account can fall below maintenance while still having positive equity, so liquidation is not restricted to accounts that have already lost everything.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "source-abf997db4e47a939",
        "source-ba9f2069b72fa7c0"
      ],
      "sourceLocators": [
        {
          "sourceId": "source-abf997db4e47a939",
          "locator": "Liquidity tiers; Market types"
        },
        {
          "sourceId": "source-ba9f2069b72fa7c0",
          "locator": "Margin; fillable price; liquidation"
        }
      ],
      "scope": {
        "collection": "defi",
        "dataAsOf": "2026-10-02",
        "blockHeight": null
      },
      "qualification": "",
      "evidenceStatus": "documented",
      "verification": {
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        "checkedAt": "2026-10-02T19:18:00.092Z",
        "reviewer": "Independent automated verification — Codex root, separate from the DeFi drafting agent",
        "notes": [
          "Recomputed invented initial1000 and maintenance600 on10000notional;550 remains positive but insufficient. Threshold distinguished from closing price."
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-fact-opening",
      "articleSlug": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin",
      "statement": "Opening: Initial margin constrains new exposure.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "source-abf997db4e47a939"
      ],
      "sourceLocators": [
        {
          "sourceId": "source-abf997db4e47a939",
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        "reviewer": "Independent automated verification — Codex root, separate from the DeFi drafting agent",
        "notes": [
          "Recomputed invented initial1000 and maintenance600 on10000notional;550 remains positive but insufficient. Threshold distinguished from closing price."
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-fact-ongoing",
      "articleSlug": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin",
      "statement": "Ongoing: Maintenance is evaluated against current account value.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "source-ba9f2069b72fa7c0"
      ],
      "sourceLocators": [
        {
          "sourceId": "source-ba9f2069b72fa7c0",
          "locator": "Margin; fillable price; liquidation"
        }
      ],
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        "checkedAt": "2026-10-02T19:18:00.092Z",
        "reviewer": "Independent automated verification — Codex root, separate from the DeFi drafting agent",
        "notes": [
          "Recomputed invented initial1000 and maintenance600 on10000notional;550 remains positive but insufficient. Threshold distinguished from closing price."
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin-fact-reduction",
      "articleSlug": "initial-vs-maintenance-margin",
      "statement": "Reduction: A liquidation can close part or all of a position.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "source-ba9f2069b72fa7c0"
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      "sourceLocators": [
        {
          "sourceId": "source-ba9f2069b72fa7c0",
          "locator": "Margin; fillable price; liquidation"
        }
      ],
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      "verification": {
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        "checkedAt": "2026-10-02T19:18:00.092Z",
        "reviewer": "Independent automated verification — Codex root, separate from the DeFi drafting agent",
        "notes": [
          "Recomputed invented initial1000 and maintenance600 on10000notional;550 remains positive but insufficient. Threshold distinguished from closing price."
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "x425-defi-dydx-markets",
      "label": "Markets and margin parameters",
      "publisher": "dYdX Foundation",
      "url": "https://docs.dydx.community/dydx/modules/governance/governance-adjustable-parameters/markets",
      "locator": "Liquidity tiers; Market types",
      "note": "Initial/maintenance margin definitions and cross versus isolated market scope.",
      "version": "Documentation retrieved for the 2026-10-02 editorial scope; content hash recorded",
      "checkedAt": "2026-10-02T18:53:21.108Z",
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      "recordId": "source-abf997db4e47a939"
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    {
      "id": "x425-defi-dydx-liquidation",
      "label": "Liquidations on dYdX Chain",
      "publisher": "dYdX Operations Services",
      "url": "https://help.dydx.trade/en/articles/166991-liquidations-on-dydx-chain",
      "locator": "Margin; fillable price; liquidation",
      "note": "Distinguishes eligibility, order execution and account losses.",
      "version": "Documentation retrieved for the 2026-10-02 editorial scope; content hash recorded",
      "checkedAt": "2026-10-02T18:53:20.755Z",
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  "related": {
    "articles": [
      "mark-index-last-price",
      "cross-vs-isolated-margin",
      "insurance-funds-auto-deleveraging",
      "realized-unrealized-trading-pnl"
    ],
    "dossiers": [],
    "wallets": []
  },
  "revisionHistory": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-02",
      "kind": "published",
      "summary": "First publication after primary-source research and separate automated verification."
    }
  ],
  "citation": "Degrees of Satoshi editorial project. “Initial and maintenance margin: opening a position versus keeping it.” Published 2026-10-02; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/initial-vs-maintenance-margin/"
}