Definition
The documentation is explicit in both directions: liquidations in that asset do not affect other isolated positions or cross positions, and cross or other isolated liquidations do not affect the original isolated position. The margin is allocated when the position is opened, and on an ordinary isolated position it can be added to or removed from afterwards. Unrealized profit behaves differently too: it is applied as additional margin for that open position instead of becoming initial margin for new ones. So the most that can be lost is the margin allocated, plus whatever is added later.
The liquidation rule is the same with fewer inputs: the only ones are the isolated margin and the notional value of that position. In a backstop liquidation that position and its isolated margin are transferred to the liquidator, and the user's cross margin and positions are untouched. Here the leverage set does move the liquidation price, because the amount of isolated margin allocated depends on the initial margin set: a lower leverage sets more margin aside and the liquidation price sits further away.
Three names cover three rules. Isolated allows margin to be added and removed. Strict isolated is the same with margin that cannot be removed, released proportionally as the position is closed. No cross is a HIP-3 mode: isolated margin with removal enabled, and no cross margin at all. In the API the asset's marginMode reads strictIsolated or noCross, and the older onlyIsolated flag is deprecated and means either of the two. Measured live on 4 October 2026, 126 of the 330 perpetuals trading that day refused cross margin, and none of them was on the main dex.
Example
An example, in round figures. An account holds $10,000 and opens an isolated long of 0.1 BTC at $100,000 at 10x, allocating $1,000 to it. If that position is liquidated, $1,000 is what is lost, and the other $9,000 answers for nothing: it is not in the computation. The same position in cross margin would instead be judged against the whole $10,000, and would take it all down with it in a backstop.