Hyperliquid Portfolio Margin: Requirements and How It Works
Portfolio margin (PM) margins your cross perps and spot balances as one pool: spot HYPE and BTC back your positions (LTV 65% and 50%), missing USDC is borrowed automatically, and the account is liquidatable above a 95% Portfolio Margin Ratio.
PM is switched on for an existing Hyperliquid account. Qualifying through the $5M volume route means paying fees first, so join with code HOLYGRAIL before your first trade: 4% off your first $25M of volume, the whole $5M included.
Who qualifies: a master account with more than $10,000 of account value or more than $5M of weighted volume, and under $25M of account value (the docs' and the app's limit; the support FAQ still says $5M).
To switch: the account needs no open positions, open orders or active TWAP orders; then Account Type → Portfolio Margin.
The code can only be added before $10,000 of volume. We earn a commission when you sign up through our links; it never raises your fees.
By BLTZ · Published · 8 min read · Checked against the Hyperliquid docs, the support FAQ and the app's Account Type window on October 22, 2026 · How we verify
What is portfolio margin on Hyperliquid?
Hyperliquid has three account modes. In the default Unified Account, each collateral token has one balance and a perp can only use its settlement asset (USDC for most markets) as margin. Under portfolio margin, "all cross margin perp positions and spot balances are collectively margined together within one account". The docs call it "a generalization of cross margin": spot and perp profit and loss offset each other, eligible spot assets back perp positions without being sold, and whatever USDC an order needs is borrowed against them automatically.
Two consequences matter most. First, you can hold HYPE or BTC and trade perps against it, or "hold HYPE and immediately buy BTC on the BTC/USDC book", without converting to USDC first. Second, PM accounts "automatically earn yield on all borrowable assets not actively used for trading": idle USDC is supplied to the lending pool, and manual supplying is switched off while PM is on. All HIP-3 DEXs are included, though not every HIP-3 collateral asset is borrowable.
The Account Type window on October 22, 2026 (logged out, so the button reads Connect): Unified Account (Recommended), Portfolio Margin and Manual, with the app's own description of each and the beta account-value limit.
Hyperliquid portfolio margin requirements
Requirement
Value
Source
Size to qualify (either one)
Account value above $10,000, or weighted volume above $5M on the master account
Docs and support FAQ
Account value ceiling
Under $25M (docs and the app's alert); the support FAQ says under $5M
Docs, app (October 22, 2026), FAQ
Account state when switching
no open positions, open orders or active TWAP orders
Support FAQ
Which account
The master account qualifies; "sub-accounts are still treated separately under portfolio margin"
Docs
Action limit
50,000 user actions a day (same as Unified; Manual has none)
Docs, account modes
Builder-code addresses
Must stay in standard (Manual) mode to accrue builder fees
Docs, account modes
Docs pages "Portfolio margin" and "Account abstraction modes", support FAQ "Portfolio margin", read October 22, 2026. The app greys the option out only above the ceiling; the docs' minimum is not checked in the window itself.
Weighted volume is Hyperliquid's fee-tier measure: perps volume plus twice spot volume. The PM page does not say over what period the $5M is counted, so if you are close, check the volume figure on your Portfolio page. Reaching $5M of perp volume as a taker costs $2,250 in fees at the base tier ($750 as a maker); with the 4% referral discount it is $2,160 ($720). Fee tiers and how to lower them further: Hyperliquid fees.
Get the account flat. Close every perp position, cancel open orders and stop any running TWAP. Spot balances can stay; they become collateral.
Open the Account Type window. Either the Account Type button on the Portfolio page, or the account-mode button at the top right of the order form on any perp's Trade page. That button reads Unified on a default account (the support FAQ still calls it "Classic").
Choose Portfolio Margin. The window lists Unified Account (Recommended), Portfolio Margin and Manual with a description of each. The Portfolio Margin option is greyed out when your account value is at or above the $25M beta limit.
Confirm and sign. The app reports "Portfolio Margin Enabled", the account-mode button switches to PM, and the account panel shows a Portfolio Margin Summary with Portfolio Margin Ratio and Portfolio Account Leverage ("Total Cross Positions Value / LTV-adjusted Portfolio Value").
We read the window and its rules in the app on October 22, 2026, logged out; we have not switched a qualifying account ourselves, so treat the last step's messages as the app's text rather than a tested walkthrough. Switching back uses the same window. API users set the same mode with the userSetAbstraction action ("portfolioMargin"), with agentSetAbstraction from an API wallet, or from a HyperEVM contract with CoreWriter action 16; balances then live in the spot clearinghouse state (Hyperliquid API guide).
The Account Type window only applies to a connected, funded account. Open it with code HOLYGRAIL so every trade on the way to the threshold, and after it, costs 4% less for your first $25M of volume.
Each eligible collateral asset has a loan-to-value ratio (LTV): HYPE 65%, BTC 50%. When a spot or perp order needs more USDC than you hold, PM borrows it automatically, up to token balance × oracle price × LTV. Holding 1 BTC and 100 HYPE at the build-time marks ($80,788 and $76.59, October 25, 2026) gives about $45,372 of borrowing power ($40,394 from BTC, $4,978 from HYPE). Borrowed USDC can only be used to trade inside PM; the support FAQ is explicit that it "cannot be withdrawn or transferred".
Interest. Borrows accrue interest continuously, indexed hourly like funding. The stablecoin rate is 5% + 4.75 × max(0, utilization − 80%) a year: 5% while the pool is under 80% used, 52.5% at 90% and 100% at 100%. The interest borrowers pay goes to suppliers, after the protocol keeps 10% as a buffer for future liquidations.
Repayment is automatic. Deposits and realised profits repay borrows first, so cash coming into a PM account reduces debt before it shows as free balance.
Health Factor = LTV-weighted account value ÷ borrowed amount. In the example above the LTV-weighted value is $45,372; borrowing all of it puts the Health Factor at 100%. Below 100% you cannot borrow more, but that alone is not a liquidation.
Caps. Supply and borrow are capped per asset; when a cap is hit, PM accounts "fall back to non-portfolio margin behavior" and extra margin must be posted in the settlement asset.
Asset
Global supply cap
Global borrow cap
Per-user supply cap
Per-user borrow cap
USDC
1B USDC
500M USDC
250M USDC
50M USDC
USDT
50M USDT
10M USDT
5M USDT
1M USDT
HYPE
25M HYPE
not borrowable
1M HYPE
not borrowable
BTC
5k BTC
not borrowable
200 BTC
not borrowable
Docs, "Portfolio margin", read October 22, 2026. The app's Borrow Cap Used figure shows how close the USDC borrow cap is.
When does portfolio margin liquidate?
The account is watched as a whole through the Portfolio Margin Ratio: for each borrowable token, the portfolio maintenance requirement (cross maintenance margin on every DEX, plus borrows, plus a minimum offset of 20 USDC) divided by the portfolio's liquidation value (balances plus LTV-weighted collateral, valued at a liquidation threshold of 0.5 + 0.5 × LTV). The highest of those ratios counts, and the account "becomes liquidatable when portfolio_margin_ratio > 0.95", the same 95% line the app warns about.
No order-book phase. Unlike normal perp liquidations, PM liquidations go straight to the backstop liquidator. Between the partial and full thresholds it takes over collateral and borrows in 20% steps, stopping once the account is healthy; below the full threshold it takes everything with positive LTV. It then sells the collateral with a TWAP whose half-life is 10 minutes.
No fixed order. "Depending on the order of oracle price updates, either perp positions or spot borrows may be liquidated first."
Borrow liquidation on a falling collateral price (support FAQ): partial when the borrow exceeds the collateral value × (LTV + (1 − LTV) × ½), repeated every 3 seconds; full when it exceeds collateral value × (LTV + (1 − LTV) × ⅔).
What that means in prices, for a position that borrowed the full LTV at today's mark and then holds while the collateral falls (interest ignored):
Collateral
LTV
Partial threshold
Full threshold
Partial liquidation below
Full liquidation below
HYPE
65%
82.5%
88.33%
$60.34 (−21.2%)
$56.36 (−26.4%)
BTC
50%
75%
83.33%
$53,859 (−33.3%)
$48,473 (−40.0%)
Our arithmetic with the support FAQ thresholds and the build-time marks (October 25, 2026). Borrowing less than the maximum moves both prices further away; a perp loss in the same account moves them closer.
Carry trade example: spot BTC with a perp short
The docs' own example shows what PM is for. A trader holds 1 BTC on spot and shorts 1 BTC on the perp at 10x. Without PM the short is margined only by USDC, so a rally can liquidate it while the spot gain sits idle. Under PM, "spot borrow and perps pnl offset each other": the trader pays interest only on the initial margin of the short but earns funding on the whole position, and as the price rises PM borrows USDC against the now more valuable spot BTC to cover the short's loss. The docs' numbers: from $100k to $150k, PM borrows $50k against the BTC; at $200k the trader must cut the size "to avoid a borrow-lend liquidation". The hedged price range is far wider than with USDC-only margin.
Funding still decides whether it pays: shorts receive funding only while the rate is positive (Hyperliquid funding rate), and the strategy itself is covered in funding rate arbitrage. Without PM, the same hedge in a default Unified account leaves the short exposed, because there "perps can only use the settlement asset as collateral".
Portfolio margin vs Unified, cross and isolated
Account mode
What backs cross positions
Health number
Suits
Unified Account (default)
One balance per collateral token; perps use only their settlement asset (USDC for most) as collateral
Unified Account Ratio
Most traders
Portfolio Margin
All cross perps and spot balances in one pool, with spot HYPE and BTC as collateral; automatic borrowing and supplying
Portfolio Margin Ratio (liquidatable above 95%)
Spot-plus-perp hedges, carry trades, HYPE or BTC holders who trade
Manual (standard)
Separate perp and spot balances, cross margin only within each DEX
Cross Margin Ratio
Market makers, bots, builder-code addresses
Account mode and margin mode are separate settings. Cross or isolated is still chosen per position; portfolio margin changes what stands behind the cross positions. An isolated position keeps its own margin in every mode. The trade-offs between cross and isolated, with liquidation examples: Hyperliquid cross vs isolated margin. Separate pots for separate strategies: Hyperliquid sub-accounts.
Risks and limits
Your spot coins are on the line. HYPE or BTC that backs perp losses can be taken over by the backstop liquidator, with no order-book phase in which you keep the rest.
Correlation. Collateral and positions often fall together. A HYPE-backed long on another coin loses twice in a market-wide drop.
Utilization spikes. At 100% utilization the borrow rate is 100% a year, borrowing stops at the cap, and suppliers cannot withdraw until borrows are repaid or new supply arrives.
Beta status. The docs call PM "a complex technical upgrade"; caps and the account ceiling are beta settings that can change. Check the app before relying on them.
Estimates ignore the hedge. The app notes that its liquidation-price estimate "does not account for hedged positions between spot and perps, even though the actual margining would", so watch the Portfolio Margin Ratio rather than a single liquidation price.
FAQ
What is portfolio margin on Hyperliquid?
Portfolio margin is an account mode that margins all cross perp positions and spot balances together in one account. Spot HYPE and BTC count as collateral for perps, missing USDC is borrowed automatically against them, and idle USDC earns interest. The docs call it "a generalization of cross margin" and the app labels it for "advanced users who want greater flexibility and capital efficiency".
What are the requirements for Hyperliquid portfolio margin?
The master account needs more than $10,000 of account value or more than $5M of weighted volume, and less than $25M of account value. When you switch it on the account must have no open positions, open orders or active TWAP orders. Sub-accounts are margined separately.
Is the account limit $5M or $25M?
The docs say account value under $25M, and on October 22, 2026 the app's Account Type window showed "Account value must be <$25M to use portfolio margin in beta mode", with the option disabled only at or above that value. The support FAQ still says under $5M. Go by the limit the app shows you.
How do I enable portfolio margin on Hyperliquid?
Close every position and cancel open orders and TWAPs. Then open Account Type on the Portfolio page, or click the account-mode button at the top right of the order form (it reads Unified on a default account), choose Portfolio Margin and confirm. The button then reads PM.
When does a portfolio margin account get liquidated?
When its Portfolio Margin Ratio goes above 95%. The ratio compares the portfolio maintenance requirement (cross maintenance margin on every DEX, borrows and a 20 USDC offset) with LTV-weighted collateral. There is no order-book phase: the backstop liquidator takes over collateral and borrows, in 20% steps between the partial and full thresholds, or all at once below the full one.
Does portfolio margin have a daily action limit?
Yes. Portfolio margin and Unified accounts are limited to 50,000 user actions a day; Manual (standard) mode has no such limit, which is why the docs recommend it for high-volume bots and market makers. Builder-code addresses must also stay in standard mode to earn builder fees.
Reach the threshold for less
Join Hyperliquid with code HOLYGRAIL before your first trade: 4% off taker and maker fees on your first $25M of volume. On $5M of taker volume that is $2,160 instead of $2,250.
Disclosure: HOLYGRAIL is our referral code; we earn a share of referred accounts' fees at no cost to you. Requirements, caps, rates and liquidation rules are from the Hyperliquid docs, support FAQ and app, read October 22, 2026; prices in the examples are the Hyperliquid marks when this page was built. Portfolio margin borrows against your assets and can liquidate them. Not investment advice.
