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For a broader mechanics overview, see Hyperliquid Portfolio Margin: How It Works (2026). If you are setting up the account itself, see Hyperliquid Setup: Wallet to First Perps Trade (2026).
Eligibility and account value limits
The figures below are from the Hyperliquid Portfolio margin docs section retrieved on 2026-11-11.
The documentation lists these portfolio margin requirements:
- The master account has more than $5M in weighted volume or more than $10k in account value.
- The account value is below $25M.
- Portfolio margin accounts fall back to non-portfolio margin behavior when caps are hit.
Asset caps stated in the docs
| Asset | Caps stated in the docs |
|---|---|
| USDT | 50M USDT global supply cap, 10M USDT global borrow cap, 5M USDT user supply cap, 1M USDT user borrow cap |
| USDC | 1B USDC global supply cap, 500M USDC global borrow cap, 250M USDC user supply cap, 50M USDC user borrow cap |
| HYPE | 25M HYPE global supply cap, 1M HYPE user supply cap |
| BTC | 5k BTC global supply cap, 200 BTC user supply cap |
Account structure for the unified balance
Portfolio margin is described as a generalization of cross margin. Instead of margining all perp positions within one DEX together, all cross-margin perp positions and spot balances are collectively margined together within one account.
For setup, the practical implications are:
- Use the master account for the unified portfolio margin balance.
- Treat sub-accounts separately, because they are still margined separately under portfolio margin.
- Expect spot and perp PnL to offset each other within the unified account.
- Understand that a spot balance can be offset by a short perp position, with the spot balance acting as collateral for the perp position.
Borrowing, LTV, and yield
Under portfolio margin, eligible collateral assets have a loan-to-value ratio between 0 and 1. The docs list HYPE at an LTV of 0.65 and BTC at an LTV of 0.5.
When placing spot and perp orders under portfolio margin, insufficient balance will be automatically borrowed against eligible collateral up to:
token_balance * borrow_oracle_price * ltv
The price is denominated in the asset being borrowed.
Portfolio margin accounts automatically earn yield on all borrowable assets not actively used for trading. Users can supply eligible quote assets to earn yield. Borrowed assets accrue interest continuously and are indexed hourly to match the perp funding interval. Portfolio margin users pay interest on borrowed assets and earn interest on idle assets according to the same rate.
For stablecoins, the docs state the borrow interest rate as:
0.05 + 4.75 * max(0, utilization - 0.8) APY
where:
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utilization = total_borrowed_value / total_supplied_value
The rate is compounded continuously depending on the instantaneous value of utilization. Earned interest is accrued proportionally to all suppliers. The protocol retains 10% of borrowed interest as a buffer for future liquidations.
Liquidation monitoring
Liquidations are triggered when the entire portfolio margin account is below its portfolio maintenance margin requirement. Users can monitor this through the portfolio margin ratio. The account becomes liquidatable when:
portfolio_margin_ratio > 0.95
The docs warn that, depending on the order of oracle price updates, either perp positions or spot borrows may be liquidated first. Once the portfolio margin ratio is liquidatable, users should not expect a deterministic liquidation sequence.
Portfolio margin liquidations are taken over directly by the backstop liquidator at system address 0xbbb...b. If user health is below the full liquidation threshold, supplied assets with positive LTV and borrowed assets are fully taken over. If user health is between the partial and full liquidation thresholds, supplied assets with positive LTV and borrowed assets are taken over in 20% intervals, stopping as soon as the user is no longer liquidatable.
Unlike perps, there is no market liquidation phase, because spot books have less consistent liquidity than perps.
Setup checklist
- Confirm the master account meets the eligibility threshold: more than $5M in weighted volume or more than $10k in account value.
- Keep account value below $25M.
- Track the global and user caps for USDT, USDC, HYPE, and BTC.
- Understand that insufficient balance can trigger automatic borrowing against eligible collateral.
- Monitor the portfolio margin ratio and treat a ratio above 0.95 as liquidatable.
- Be prepared to supply settlement asset if borrow caps are hit.
- Do not assume a fixed liquidation order between perp positions and spot borrows.
Source and CTA
Primary source: Hyperliquid Docs — Portfolio margin.
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Formula-level checks before relying on the unified balance
The Hyperliquid Portfolio margin docs define the monitored portfolio_margin_ratio as the maximum, across borrowable tokens, of portfolio_maintenance_requirement(token) / portfolio_liquidation_value(token). In practice, the account’s risk is driven by the token with the highest ratio, not by a single spot or perp balance. The maintenance requirement includes a 20 USDC min_borrow_offset, cross maintenance margin across DEXs, and borrowed size for maintenance priced using the borrow oracle.
The liquidation value is the portfolio balance plus a capped contribution. The inner min selects the lesser of portfolio balance and supply cap; that amount is multiplied by the borrow oracle price and the liquidation threshold. The outer min then caps that product at borrow_cap(token):
portfolio_liquidation_value(token) =
portfolio_balance(token) + min(
borrow_cap(token),
min(portfolio_balance(token), supply_cap(token))
* borrow_oracle_price(token)
* liquidation_threshold(token)
)
The docs set that threshold at 0.5 + 0.5 * LTV(token), so HYPE and BTC do not contribute the same liquidation value even when balances are similar. The borrow oracle price is the median of the spot USDC price, the perp mark price adjusted by the USDT/USDC oracle, and the perp oracle price adjusted by the same oracle.