When your futures margin is in danger, instead of waiting for the price to turn around, take the initiative with three things: add margin, lower your actual leverage, or reduce position size / set a stop-loss. These three actions directly shift your liquidation price and put control back in your hands.
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Step 1: Add Margin — Thicken Your "Safety Cushion" Directly
[What to do] Transfer more margin into a losing isolated position, or inject funds into your cross margin account.
[How to do it]
Isolated Mode: Go to the [Positions] tab on the futures trading page, find the margin column for the position, click the [Edit] icon, enter the amount you want to add (e.g., 100 USDT), and confirm. This money goes directly into that position's margin, and the liquidation price will move further away.
Cross Mode: Transfer USDT from your spot account or funding account to your futures account. In cross mode, all positions share this one margin pool. Adding to the cross balance means adding a safety cushion to all positions at once.
[Completion standard] After the action, the "margin balance" figure on the positions page increases, and the "liquidation price" moves further away from the current price (lower for longs, higher for shorts).
Common reason for failure: Many people deposit money into their account but send it to the spot account instead of the futures account. If the money goes to the wrong place, the margin balance won't change, and the liquidation price won't budge. Make sure the transfer target is set to "USDⓈ-M Futures Wallet."
Step 2: Lower Actual Leverage — Shrink Your Risk Exposure
[What to do] Reduce position size or increase margin to bring down your account's effective leverage ratio.
[How to do it]
Case A (You have spare funds and want to keep the position): Follow Step 1 and add margin. With more funds, the margin ratio for the same position drops, and the actual leverage (position value / total margin) naturally decreases.
Case B (No spare funds, or you don't want to add more): Manually reduce your position. Place a reverse order in the current orders to close part of the position. A smaller position requires less maintenance margin, so liquidation risk drops. For example, if you held 1 BTC and closed 0.3 BTC, the remaining position is much lower risk.
Case C (Cross Mode): Check if other unrelated positions are eating up margin. If extra positions are dragging down your overall account balance, consider closing them to free up margin for the highest-risk position.
[Completion standard] The "leverage multiplier" shown on the positions page drops (a figure the system calculates automatically), or the position quantity decreases. The liquidation price moves in a safer direction.
High-risk warning: Many people think changing the "leverage multiplier" from 20x to 10x in the futures settings is all it takes. That only changes the default leverage for new positions. The actual leverage on existing positions will not change. To lower leverage on an existing position, you must either add margin or reduce the position. There is no shortcut.
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Step 3: Set a Stop-Loss Order or Enable Auto Top-Up — Cut Losses Early
[What to do] Put an "automatic brake" on your position, or let the system top up for you when margin runs low.
[How to do it]
Set a stop-loss order (recommended): In the [Current Orders] area, set a [Take Profit / Stop Loss] order. If you are long, set a stop-loss sell price below the current price. If you are short, set a stop-loss buy price above the current price. Once the price hits it, the system closes the position automatically, capping your loss within a preset range. Note: market order mode fills more easily than limit order mode, but slippage can occur in extreme market conditions.
Enable Auto Top-Up: In the leverage account settings, turn on the [Auto Top-Up] feature and select up to 3 assets. The system will automatically transfer funds from your spot account to top up when the margin ratio hits 1.3. In extreme market conditions, the auto top-up speed may not keep up with price changes. The risk ratio could hit the liquidation line before the top-up completes, so do not rely on it 100%.
[Completion standard] The stop-loss order appears in "Current Orders" with a status of "Open." Or the auto top-up feature status shows as "Enabled."
How to verify your actions worked: After completing any of the above steps, go back to the [Positions] page and confirm that the "liquidation price" is now safer than before (lower for longs, higher for shorts). If the liquidation price is still hugging the current price, your action wasn't big enough — you need to keep adding margin or reducing your position further.
