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Yellow.pro uses cross margin for perpetual trading, combined with adjustable leverage. Understanding how they interact is key to managing risk.

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Cross Margin

In cross margin mode your entire available Perpetual account balance acts as collateral for all open positions — they share one margin pool. This is the margin mode used on Yellow.pro.
  • A profitable position can provide buffer for a losing one.
  • A single heavily losing position can draw from your whole balance.
  • Liquidation triggers when your total account margin ratio hits the maintenance threshold — not per individual position.
> Example: a long BTC position up +200 USDT and a short BTC position down −150 USDT net to +50 USDT. Cross margin considers the whole account, so the losing leg isn’t liquidated on its own.
Yellow.pro currently uses cross margin as the primary mode. Isolated margin may be introduced in future updates.

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Leverage

Leverage is a multiplier that lets you open a position larger than your account balance: Position Size = Margin × Leverage. With 100 USDT and 10x leverage you control a 1,000 USDT position. Leverage amplifies both gains and losses against the full position size: Higher leverage moves your liquidation price closer to entry and leaves less buffer for fluctuations. Beginners should start low (1x–5x).

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Initial vs Maintenance Margin

  • Initial Margin — the minimum required to open a position: Initial Margin = Position Size / Leverage.
  • Maintenance Margin — the minimum required to keep a position open. If your effective margin falls below it, liquidation is triggered. It’s a fixed percentage of position size, lower than the initial margin.

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Margin Ratio

The Margin Ratio is a real-time indicator of how close you are to liquidation:

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Keeping Your Margin Ratio Safe

The main levers are adding margin, reducing position size, lowering leverage, and using stop-loss orders. You’ll also receive an email warning as your margin ratio approaches critical levels. For the full approach and how to enable alerts, see Margin Warnings & Risk Management; for how liquidation is triggered and priced, see Liquidation & Mark Price.