The short answer: beginners should prefer Cross mode, while traders running multiple positions at the same time should prefer Isolated mode.
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The core difference between Cross and Isolated is where the system takes money from to keep your position alive when the market moves against you. This determines what happens when you get liquidated and how adding margin works.
First, understand how money is used in the two modes
Cross mode treats all available balance in your Futures account as one shared margin pool. If you have multiple positions open, they all use this same pool. When one position is close to liquidation, the system automatically adds margin from the remaining balance in your Futures account. The benefit is that the liquidation price for a single position is usually farther away, so short-term price swings are less likely to wipe it out. The downside is that if your total account balance cannot cover the maintenance margin, all positions will be liquidated together.
Isolated mode assigns a separate margin amount to each position. If the loss reaches a certain level, the system will not add more funds for you. Instead, it will directly liquidate that position. The benefit is that the risk is locked to that single order and will not drag down the rest of your account. The downside is that the liquidation price for each position is much closer, so you need to watch it frequently. If liquidation is triggered, that margin is completely lost, but the remaining funds in your account stay safe.
A simple way to remember it: Cross means "all your money shares the risk together," while Isolated means "each position loses on its own without affecting the others."
The difference when adding margin
If you receive a margin call and need to add funds manually:
In Cross mode, the margin you add goes into the total balance pool of your Futures account and is automatically distributed across all open positions. After adding margin, the overall risk level of your account improves, and the liquidation price for all positions moves farther away.
In Isolated mode, the margin you add only goes into the independent margin account of that specific order. Other positions and their liquidation prices are not affected. The process is: go to your Futures positions page, find the position, click "Adjust Margin" or the edit icon, enter the amount you want to add, and confirm.
When to choose which mode
Choose Cross mode when:
- You only focus on 1-2 major coins such as BTC or ETH
- You use hedging or quantitative strategies and want to maximize the capital efficiency of your account
- You want to give your positions more room to breathe in volatile markets
Choose Isolated mode when:
- You open multiple positions in different coins at the same time, especially smaller altcoins that are more likely to experience sudden price wicks
- You want to strictly control the maximum loss of each trade and avoid one mistake wiping out your entire account
- You are running strategies such as grid trading where each strategy needs its margin managed independently
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Possible cost differences between the two methods
In Cross mode, the system automatically adds margin from your account balance. If you have multiple positions and some are in profit, this process does not create extra trading fees. However, if liquidation eventually happens, because the liquidation price is farther away, all the balance in your account can be wiped out at once.
In Isolated mode, adding margin is a manual operation and does not create extra fees. But every time you add margin, you are putting more capital into that order. If the market keeps moving against you, your actual loss can become larger. So while the liquidation price in Isolated mode is closer, adding margin is a double-edged sword: it can turn a small loss into a big one.
How to verify after adding margin: After the operation is complete, go back to your Futures positions page and check whether the "Margin" value of that position has been updated to the amount you added.
