> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://countertrade.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://countertrade.gitbook.io/docs/trading/liquidation.md).

# Liquidation

The difference between one position being force-closed and your whole account being liquidated, when each happens, and what you can do afterwards.

Two different things are called liquidation, and the difference decides whether you keep playing.

|                       | Position liquidation             | Full account liquidation            |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| What closes           | One position — or one cross pool | Everything                          |
| Your account          | Stays active                     | Marked liquidated                   |
| Can you keep trading? | **Yes**                          | **No — the battle is over for you** |
| What you see          | A toast naming the position      | An **Account liquidated** panel     |

Both cost you paper balance only. Your balance cannot go below zero: this is simulated money, so losses are capped at what's in the account and there is no real debt.

## Position liquidation

A position is liquidated when the losses on it eat through the margin backing it. The platform force-closes that one position at the current mark price.

Every position reserves margin from your paper balance. As the market moves against it, its unrealized loss grows, and it is force-closed when its **equity** — that margin plus the unrealized loss — falls to its **maintenance margin**, a small percentage of the position's value set by your leverage. See [Leverage](/docs/trading/leverage.md) for the table.

Your margin mode decides what gets closed. Under **Isolated**, each position has its own liquidation price, so only the one that breaches closes. Under **Cross**, positions share one margin pool and close together if that pool runs too low. See [Isolated and cross margin](/docs/trading/isolated-and-cross-margin.md).

When it happens, the position's open orders and triggers are cancelled, it closes at the mark price, and its realized loss plus the liquidation fee settles against your paper balance. A toast appears in the top-right of the terminal — for example "BTCUSDT long position liquidated" — with a "Realized PnL:" line beneath it when there's a realized amount.

**You are not out.** Your account stays active, the paper balance you have left is intact, and you can open new positions immediately. Your leaderboard standing reflects the realized loss, and that's all.

## Full account liquidation

This one ends your battle. When your account equity falls to about **1%** of the paper balance you started with, everything closes at once:

* every open position is force-closed at its last mark price;
* every open order and every trigger is cancelled;
* your account is marked liquidated for that battle.

Equity is your paper balance plus the unrealized profit or loss on open positions. It's checked right after a position or a cross pool is liquidated — so a single bad position can trigger it, if that position was big enough to drag the whole account down.

The terminal shows an **Account liquidated** panel: "Your account equity fell below the maintenance threshold. All positions were force-closed and trading in this room is over…" It returns you to the room page after a few seconds, or you can select **Go to room now**.

Afterwards, every order you try is rejected with "Your account is liquidated and cannot trade in this room." You are **not** removed from the battle — your row stays on the leaderboard, frozen at your final result — you simply cannot trade any more.

## A worked example

A battle starts you with 10,000 paper USDT and you open a BTC long.

It slides against you. Once your loss reaches that position's maintenance margin, the position alone is force-closed: its orders are cancelled, its loss settles, and whatever balance is left stays in your account. You can open something else straight away.

Now suppose that position was large enough that closing it drops your equity to around 100 USDT — about 1% of where you started. The account check runs immediately after, and this time the whole account is liquidated: anything still open is force-closed, your resting orders are cancelled, and the battle is over for you.

## How leverage changes both

Higher leverage means a smaller price move liquidates a position — and a position liquidation is what triggers the account check. So leverage raises the odds of both events, in that order.

Choose it against how much of a position you're willing to lose, rather than by how much exposure you want.

## Related

* [Leverage](/docs/trading/leverage.md)
* [Isolated and cross margin](/docs/trading/isolated-and-cross-margin.md)
* [Rejected orders](/docs/trading/rejected-orders.md)