# Margin Explainer

## What is Margin

Margin is the collateral that you need to post when entering into a leveraged derivatives contract. The amount required to enter into a new position is referred to as Initial Margin. If the trade against you, the unrealised loss in your position is adjusted against the initially posted margin. You can keep your position open as long as the unrealised pnl adjusted margin is greater than the Maintenance Margin. Once Maintenance Margin is breached, liquidation process is triggered.

## Available Margin Modes

Delta Exchange offers three margin modes
1. 1.
Isolated Margin mode
2. 2.
Portfolio Margin mode
3. 3.
Cross Margin mode (coming soon)
Margin mode is an account level property. For a given account/ subaccount, you can select only one margin mode.

## Margin Mode Support

Not all contracts support all margin modes. Therefore, the choice of margin mode for an account will have a bearing on what contracts can be traded in that account.
Isolated Margin mode
All contracts support Isolated Margin mode. Therefore, in an account where Isolated Margin mode is selected, you can trade all contracts listed on Delta Exchange
Portfolio Margin mode
Only USDT settled futures, perpetuals and options on BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB and XRP support Portfolio Margin mode
Cross Margin mode
All USDT settled contracts support Cross Margin mode