Overview
Leverage lets you open a position larger than your wallet margin. Atomic supports 1x to 20x across all listed markets, with the borrowed portion sourced from the lending pool and repaid automatically when you close.
Margin is isolated per position. The collateral you commit at entry is the only capital exposed to that trade; the rest of your wallet is untouched. Higher leverage compresses the distance between entry and the liquidation price - see Liquidations for how that threshold is set.
Pick a leverage. Pick a margin. The protocol borrows the rest, marks a liquidation price at entry, and that's the only number you have to watch.
How leverage works
When you apply leverage, Atomic borrows the additional capital on your behalf at the moment the position opens. The loan sits against your position; closing the position repays it in the same transaction.
A worked example:
Margin: 100 USDC.e Leverage: 10x Position size: 1,000 USDC.e Borrowed: 900 USDC.e (from lending pool) Funding: paid hourly while open Repayment: automatic on close
You never interact with the lending pool directly. Borrow rate is rolled into the funding cost shown on the order panel.
Why isolated margin
Atomic uses isolated margin instead of a cross-margin pool. Each position is its own envelope:
- Margin is locked at entry and dedicated to that trade alone.
- The liquidation threshold is computed once, against that envelope only.
- A losing trade cannot pull collateral from your other open positions or your wallet balance.
The trade-off is rigidity: you cannot top up margin on a live position, and you cannot withdraw margin from one. If you want more buffer, close and reopen at a lower leverage.
Margin is fixed at entry. Adding or removing collateral on an open position is intentionally not supported - it's the price of the isolated model.
Per-market limits
Maximum leverage and minimum margin are set per asset based on liquidity and volatility. Blue-chip markets (ETH, BTC) support the full 20x; longer-tail assets cap lower. The current values are listed on each market's trading pair page.
Borrowed capital accrues funding every hour the position is open. A 20x position held for a week can give back a meaningful slice of unrealized PnL to funding alone - check the rate before sizing up.