Futures margin: requirements, available balance and isolated positions

A futures account can contain cash, show positive equity and still have little capacity for another order. It can also lose the ability to increase exposure before its existing positions reach a liquidation threshold. “Margin” is used for several quantities, and treating them as one balance hides those differences.

Initial margin, maintenance margin and available margin answer separate questions: what is required to open exposure, what is required to retain it, and what capacity remains under the venue's rules. None is automatically the amount a position can lose.

Requirements are different from resources

CME Group defines initial margin as the funds required to initiate a futures position and maintenance margin as the minimum that must remain in the account. A broker may collect more than the clearing requirement. Requirements can change with market conditions. Futures margin supports contractual performance; it is not a part-payment that gives ownership of the underlying asset.

The resource side starts with eligible collateral and the rules for valuing it. A token balance multiplied by a displayed price may exceed the amount usable as margin. Kraken's portfolio documentation distinguishes balance value from collateral value and describes haircuts for non-USD collateral. Unrealised profit or loss also affects portfolio value. A balance screen and a margin screen can therefore disagree without either being arithmetically wrong.

Kraken's derivatives glossary defines available margin as margin equity minus total initial margin. Its total initial margin includes open orders as well as positions. An order that has not filled can thus consume capacity under this definition. This is an account calculation, not a separate pile of coins waiting in custody.

A small worksheet makes the distinction visible

Assume a fictional venue accepts collateral worth $5,000, applies a 10% haircut, recognises a $300 unrealised loss, and requires $1,000 initial margin and $600 maintenance margin. Assume one position, no open orders, no fees or funding, and no special netting rules. These inputs are invented, not a Kraken or CME schedule.

The last two rows differ because they subtract different requirements. Neither is a guaranteed future-loss allowance. Collateral prices, unrealised losses, requirements and charges can all change; execution during liquidation is another process. A withdrawal also changes the resources supporting exposure.

A concrete separation appears in Kraken MTF’s margin summary: falling below initial margin causes risk-increasing open orders to be cancelled and prevents new positions without corrective action, while falling below maintenance margin begins liquidation. That document describes the MTF system, not every service carrying the Kraken name. CME's broker-mediated process and a crypto venue's automated rules should not be combined into one assumed grace period.

Cross and isolated describe where support comes from

Cross margin allows positions to share eligible resources in a defined wallet. Isolated margin allocates support to a particular position. The practical question is which balances and other positions can affect that allocation under the actual account rules.

For Kraken Multi-M, the margin and liquidation documentation says cross positions use wallet collateral excluding initial margin set aside for isolated positions. It also describes three liquidation cases, including an account-wide case that can affect isolated positions. Funding payments on isolated positions come from the general wallet balance. “Isolated” therefore needs the surrounding wallet rules, not just the label on the order form.

This is distinct from the collateral ratio discussed in our DeFi liquidation explainer. Here the central issue is the allocation of account resources across futures orders and positions.

Separate capacity from a loss ceiling

For an account review, record the contract, collateral currencies, haircuts, recognised profit and loss, initial requirement, maintenance requirement, and margin mode. Then identify which wallet pays charges and which event begins liquidation. Funding can alter that account over time, as our funding-interval explanation shows.

These fields explain why capacity changed without pretending to calculate a universal liquidation price. Venue schedules and account architecture were checked on 23 September 2026. They are examples of documented mechanics; a different contract, jurisdiction or broker can use different requirements and liquidation procedures.

Two accounts with identical holdings can have different available margin when one has additional open orders. Two accounts with identical positions can have different collateral value when their supporting assets differ. The gross wallet total alone cannot resolve either comparison.