A margin per position
Isolated margin constrains an asset's collateral to that asset. The documentation is explicit about 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.
You allocate the margin when you open the position, and on an ordinary isolated position you can add to it or remove from it afterwards. Unrealized profit behaves differently too: on an isolated position it is applied as additional margin for that open position, instead of becoming initial margin for new ones as it does in cross.
So the maximum loss on an isolated position is the margin allocated to it, plus whatever you choose to add later. That is the whole point of the mode, and it is why a market that can gap is usually held this way.
What it changes for liquidation
The rule is the same, with fewer inputs. An isolated position is liquidated by the same maintenance margin logic as a cross one, but the only inputs to the computation 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 documentation says the user's cross margin and positions are untouched.
And here the leverage you set does move the liquidation price. The documentation says so directly: the liquidation price depends on the leverage set for isolated positions, 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.
Isolated, strict isolated, no cross
| Mode | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Isolated | Collateral tied to one asset. Margin can be added and removed after the position is opened. |
| Strict isolated | The same, with margin that cannot be removed. It is released proportionally as the position is closed. |
| No cross | A HIP-3 mode: isolated margin with removal enabled, but cross margin not allowed at all. |
In the API the asset's marginMode reads strictIsolated or noCross, and the older onlyIsolated flag is deprecated: it means either of the two. A program that reads only the flag, or only the mode, will take some of these markets for ordinary ones.
Margin placed behind a strict isolated position is released only as the position is closed. On a position that stays open for weeks, that collateral stays where it is, and it cannot be moved to the trade you would rather be in.
Where it is not a choice
On the main dex, both modes are available on every market. On a dex deployed under HIP-3 the choice belongs to the deployer: cross margin has to be enabled asset by asset, the documentation says enabling it is irreversible, and mainnet validators enforce eligibility standards first, including sufficient observable liquidity, a reliable external oracle source and resilience to price manipulation.
The result, measured live on 4 October 2026: of the 330 perpetuals live that day, 126 refused cross margin. 90 of the 110 on one builder's dex, 26 of 29 on a second, 8 of 8 on a third, 2 of 5 on a fourth, and none at all among the markets of the main dex. A trader who stays on the main dex may never meet the case; a program that lists every market will.
For a program the consequence is practical. On such a market the leverage has to be set in isolated before the order goes out: ask for it in cross and Hyperliquid refuses the leverage, and the order that followed is never sent.
When one prefers it
- A market that can gap, where a known maximum loss matters more than the collateral it ties up.
- A position the rest of the account should not pay for, held beside others you intend to keep.
- Several ideas at once, each with its own budget, so that one going wrong cannot reach the others.
What you give up is the sharing: a profit on one position no longer holds up another, margin has to be moved by hand when a position needs more, and on a strict isolated market it cannot be moved back at all. This site's markets pages show each market's figures, the maximum leverage among them.
What the agent does
The agent's policy names the dexes it may trade, the main one by default, where cross is available everywhere. Setting a market's leverage and margin mode is one of the few actions its key may sign at all.
Where a market refuses cross, the order path reads both the flag and the mode and sets the leverage in isolated, so the margin set aside covers that one position. The pilot's room before liquidation, 100% of the complete ladder by default, is computed the same way in either mode: what changes is whose collateral answers for it.