Short answer
Isolated margin gives each trade its own pot of money, so a liquidation only costs that trade's amount. Cross margin shares one pot across all your trades, which lets winners support losers but means one bad trade can drag the whole account down. Hyperliquid's default is cross. CopyHype uses isolated margin on every trade, so your amount is the most a trade can lose.
Picture two jars. In the first setup, you have one small jar per trade. If one trade goes badly, only its jar empties. In the second, all your trades drink from one big jar. A winning trade can top up a losing one, but a really bad trade can empty the big jar for everyone. The first is isolated margin. The second is cross margin. That is the whole difference, and it matters more than most beginners think.
What is margin?
Margin is the money you put into a perps trade. It is your amount, the part that is actually at risk. The multiplier turns it into a bigger position.
If you open a $200 position at x10, the margin is $20. Hyperliquid's own rule is simple: the margin needed to open a position is the position size times the price, divided by the multiplier (>Hyperliquid docs, margining). Margin mode decides where that $20 comes from, and what else it can touch.
What is isolated margin?
Isolated margin locks a fixed amount of money to one trade. If that trade is liquidated, you lose that amount and nothing else. Your other trades and the rest of your wallet are untouched.
You open a trade with $20 isolated. It can only ever use those $20. If the price runs against you, the trade closes when the $20 is nearly gone. Your other trades keep going as if nothing happened. Hyperliquid says it directly: liquidating one isolated position does not affect other isolated or cross positions (>Hyperliquid docs, margining).
Isolated is easy to reason about. Each trade has a known worst case: its amount.
What is cross margin?
Cross margin lets all your trades share the money in your account. Profits on one trade can keep another alive, but losses can spread. It is Hyperliquid's default mode.
With cross margin, there is no separate jar. Your whole account balance backs every cross position. A trade that is losing does not get liquidated as quickly, because the rest of your money props it up. That sounds good, and for experienced traders running hedges it can be. The catch: when the account as a whole falls below the safety level, all cross positions can be liquidated together. In a full liquidation of a cross account with no isolated trades, the account ends at zero (>Hyperliquid docs, liquidations).
How do they compare side by side?
Isolated caps each trade's loss. Cross shares risk and money across trades. Here are the differences that matter.
| Item | Isolated | Cross |
|---|---|---|
| Money a trade can use | Only its own margin | The whole account |
| Worst case for one bad trade | That trade's amount | Can pull down the whole account |
| Liquidation of one trade | Others untouched | Shared safety level for all cross trades |
| Unrealized profit | Adds margin to that same trade | Usable as margin for new trades |
| Good for | Beginners, copying, clear limits | Experienced traders, hedges |
| Hyperliquid default | No | Yes |
What happens at liquidation in each mode?
In isolated, only that trade and its margin go. In cross, the liquidation can take every cross position and the cross balance. This is the part that surprises people.
Here is a story. You have $100. You open two trades of $20 each at x10.
- Isolated: Trade A falls 9% and is liquidated. You lose $20. Trade B is fine. You still have $80 in total, including B.
- Cross: Trade A falls 9%, but the rest of your $100 keeps it open. It keeps falling, 20%, 30%. Your account value sinks. Trade B is also slightly down. When the whole account drops below the safety level, both trades are liquidated. You can lose far more than $20.
Cross gave trade A more room, which is exactly what let it lose more. Hyperliquid even notes that in a backstop liquidation of a cross account, all cross positions and cross margin go to the liquidator, while an isolated liquidation leaves cross margin and positions untouched (>Hyperliquid docs, liquidations).
Can I add or remove margin on an isolated trade?
Yes. On Hyperliquid you can add margin to an isolated trade to give it more room, or remove some, within limits. Removing margin brings the liquidation point closer.
Adding margin is like pouring more water into that trade's jar. It lowers the effective multiplier and pushes the liquidation price further away. Removing margin does the opposite. Hyperliquid only allows removing margin if what is left still meets the opening requirement and is at least 10% of the position's value (>Hyperliquid docs, margining).
Some markets are "strict isolated": margin cannot be removed at all, and it shrinks only as the position is closed.
Why does CopyHype use isolated margin?
Because it makes "your amount is the most you can lose" true for every trade. When you copy several whales at once, one disaster cannot drain your wallet.
Copying means trades open while you are busy. You might be copying three whales, each with two open trades. With cross margin, a single wild move on one coin could pull down all six. With isolated margin, each copy stands alone with its own amount. If one is liquidated, the message says exactly what you lost: that trade's amount, nothing more.
CopyHype adds limits on top: a copy is skipped if the price already moved more than 2% since the whale got in, whales who trade too fast to copy are left out, and you can set a stop loss on every copy.
Does isolated margin change Let it ride?
Let it ride is where isolated margin gets interesting: it uses part of a winning trade's profit as the amount for a second trade. On an isolated trade, unrealized profit counts as extra margin for that same trade, and CopyHype moves part of it to fund the second one.
That is why the first trade gets riskier. It keeps less cushion, so its liquidation point moves closer. If the second trade loses, it eats that win. If both together run out, both close. Your other trades and your cash are not touched. Full explanation, with numbers, in Let it ride.
Which margin mode should a beginner use?
Isolated. It gives every trade a clear worst case, which is what you need while you learn.
Cross margin is a tool for traders who run several positions that offset each other, and who watch their account closely. If you are not doing that, cross mostly means a single bad trade has access to all your money.
Frequently asked questions
Is isolated margin safer than cross?
For one trade, it caps the loss at that trade's margin. That makes it safer for beginners. Cross can survive bigger dips on a single trade, but the risk spreads to the whole account.
What is Hyperliquid's default margin mode?
Cross margin is the default on Hyperliquid. You can switch a market to isolated before opening a trade. CopyHype opens every copy in isolated margin.
Does cross margin mean lower liquidation risk?
For one trade, yes, because more money backs it. For the account, no: when the account falls below the safety level, every cross position can be liquidated together.
Can I lose more than my margin with isolated?
No. An isolated trade closes before its own margin runs out. Fees and funding are paid from that margin too.
Can I switch modes on an open trade?
Generally you pick the mode before you open. On CopyHype you do not need to pick: every copy is isolated.
Where do these facts come from?
From Hyperliquid's official documentation on margining and liquidations. Sources:
Margin, maintenance margin and liquidation are defined in the perps glossary.
Keep reading
- Leverage explained: what x5, x10 and x50 really do to your moneyCrypto leverage explained simply: what x10 means in dollars, how far price can move before liquidation at each multiplier, and how to pick one.
- Leverage and liquidation on Hyperliquid, explained for copiersWhat a multiplier does on Hyperliquid, how far price can move before a trade is liquidated, and why isolated margin caps what a trade can lose.
- What are perpetual futures? Perps explained like you're tenPerpetual futures explained in plain words: a bet that a coin goes up or down, with a multiplier, no expiry and a max loss you choose. Examples.