A complete guide to Cross Margin trading on Bybit

Margin trading on Bybit lets you use assets as collateral to open positions larger than your balance with leverage. Bybit's Unified Trading Account (UTA) offers three margin modes: Isolated Margin, Cross Margin and Portfolio Margin. Each is built for different risk profiles and trading strategies.

One structural constraint applies across all three modes: the selected margin mode applies to your entire account. You cannot run different modes across individual trading pairs, meaning that every open position operates under the same margin logic.

Cross Margin is the default UTA margin mode. This guide explains what is cross margin, how margin trading works under this mode, how it compares with Isolated Margin and Portfolio Margin and how traders can use it on Bybit.

Key Takeaways:

• Cross Margin pools eligible collateral assets into a shared account-level margin balance, allowing supported positions to benefit from multi-asset collateral and PnL offsets.

• Because liquidation under Cross Margin triggers at the account level, not the position level, a loss on one trade can reduce the margin for all other positions and increase the risk of a cascade of liquidations.

• Cross Margin supports Spot, Spot Margin, USDT Perpetual & Expiry, USDC Perpetual, Inverse Perpetual & Expiry and Options under the UTA.

What is Cross Margin?

Margin trading lets you borrow funds against your collateral to take positions beyond your wallet balance. It can equally amplify both potential gains and losses.

Cross Margin is the UTA's default mode. It’s suitable for experienced crypto traders who use margin as a hedging tool, or who actively trade across multiple product types within a single account.

Under Cross Margin, eligible collateral assets contribute to a shared account-level margin balance. In Multiple-Assets Mode, collateralized assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are converted into their USD collateral value for supported Spot Margin and derivatives trading. For example, BTC held as eligible collateral can support a Tether (USDT) Perpetual position without first being converted to USDT.

Unrealized profits from Perpetual and Futures contracts count toward your margin balance, and can be used to open new positions, increasing capital efficiency. However, if you have open trades and the market moves against them, losses are deducted from the same shared collateral pool, which can quickly reduce available margin and increase the risk of forced liquidation across multiple positions.

Cross Margin supports Spot Margin trading and borrowing. If your settlement coin balance is insufficient, you can still place an order as long as your total collateral value in USD equivalent covers the requirement. This may incur a liability on that asset after execution. Leverage can be set independently for each trading pair, except in Hedge mode, where the long and short directions on the same pair must use identical leverage.

How to earn with Cross Margin trading on Bybit

The borrowing examples below describe Spot Margin trading under Cross Margin. Traders can use Market, Limit or Conditional orders where supported, while derivatives positions follow their own contract and order rules.

Buy long (bullish)

When you expect the price of an asset to rise, you can borrow the quote currency, buy the base asset at the current price and sell when the asset’s price reaches your target price. After selling, you repay the borrowed amount plus accrued interest; the remaining difference is your profit.

Example: Long BTC/USDT: borrow USDT, buy BTC low, sell BTC high, repay USDT plus interest and keep the spread. The wider the gap between entry and exit price, the larger your realized gain.

Sell short (bearish)

When you expect the asset’s price to fall, you borrow the base asset, sell it immediately at the current market price, wait for the decline and buy it back at the lower price. After repaying the borrowed amount plus interest, the price difference is your profit.

Example: Short BTC/USDT: borrow BTC, sell BTC high, buy it back low, repay BTC plus interest and keep the spread. The steeper the price drop, the greater your return.

Unlike Isolated Margin, Cross Margin uses eligible collateral assets in a shared account-level margin balance. For example, eligible BTC holdings can provide collateral value for borrowing USDT to fund an ETH Spot Margin trade without first selling the BTC.

Understanding account risk in Cross Margin

Cross Margin replaces per-position liquidation logic with two account-level risk metrics: initial margin rate (IMR) and maintenance margin rate (MMR).

Liquidation is triggered when your account MMR reaches 100%, rather than when an individual Cross Margin position reaches a fixed liquidation threshold. Under Isolated Margin, liquidation is triggered when the Mark Price reaches the position's Liquidation Price.

In Cross Margin, a profitable position can temporarily offset an underwater one, but if the aggregate MMR hits 100%, then all positions may be liquidated, increasing the risk and your potential amount of loss.

The liquidation price displayed for Cross Margin derivatives is an estimate for reference. The actual liquidation trigger is the account MMR reaching 100%, which changes with collateral values, unrealized PnL and active borrowings.

For full liquidation sequencing mechanics, refer to the guide titled Liquidation Process (Unified Trading Account).

How Cross Margin compares to Isolated Margin and Portfolio Margin

When comparing cross margin vs isolated margin, the main differences are how margin is shared, how liquidation risk is measured and which products support borrowing. This isolated vs cross margin comparison also shows whether eligible collateral assets and unrealized PnL can support other positions across the account.

The table below summarizes the main characteristics and differences of the three margin modes.

How to switch to or from Cross Margin

You can switch margin modes from within your UTA page. The switch immediately applies to your entire account. Certain conditions must be satisfied before the switch is permitted, such as sufficient margin coverage, no conflicting position configurations and, when switching away from Cross Margin, the absence of existing borrowings and active Spot Margin orders. For the complete switching requirements in each direction, refer to the Criteria for Switching Between Margin Modes section in this guide.

Risks to note when margin trading

Always keep in mind that margin trading and leverage amplify gains and losses equally. As such, position sizing and risk assessment matter more under margin trading than in unleveraged Spot trades.

It’s important that you monitor open positions in real time. Also, actively use take profit (TP) and stop loss (SL) orders to define your exit parameters before volatility and unexpected trend reversals hit your overall position hard.

Using unrealized profits to open new positions increases capital efficiency. However, it also increases account-wide exposure. If the market reverses, those unrealized gains can disappear and reduce the margin available across the account. Remember: the margin mode you select applies to your entire account, not individual positions. Therefore, a loss in one position under Cross Margin reduces your collateral for all other ones.

The bottom line

Cross Margin is Bybit's default UTA mode. It supports eligible multi-asset collateral, borrowing and PnL offsets across supported positions. These features can improve capital efficiency for traders managing Spot, Spot Margin and derivatives activity within one account.

Traders who want each derivatives position to use separately allocated margin may prefer Isolated Margin. Auto Margin Replenishment can still add available account funds to an isolated position when enabled. Portfolio Margin may suit experienced derivatives traders whose hedged portfolios can benefit from portfolio-level risk calculations.

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