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Multi-asset margin on Lighter
Parameters verified against Lighter's official docs on 2026-09-29. Lighter says live values are always in its assetDetails API and may change; the table below is a dated copy.
Lighter lets you post assets other than USDC as margin for perpetual positions. The feature sits on top of Unified Trading Accounts (UTA), which the docs describe as unified margin across spot and perpetual USDC balances and "the first step toward supporting additional Spot assets as collateral". A UTA is "available to be enabled only on web for now". Without it, a Simple Trading Account keeps spot and perp balances apart, and perps can only use the settlement asset as collateral.
At launch multi-asset margin covers perpetual futures only; the docs say USDC spot trading with non-USDC collateral is "coming soon". An account that holds no non-USDC collateral behaves exactly like a normal cross-margin account.
Which assets count, and for how much
| Deployment | Asset | Loan-to-value | Liquidation threshold | Liquidation factor | Liquidation fee | Per-user cap | Global cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lighter | ETH | 70% | 85% | 95% | 2% | 2,000 ETH | 10,000 ETH |
| Lighter | XAUT | 70% | 85% | 95% | 2% | 500 XAUT | 2,000 XAUT |
| Robinhood Chain Lighter | SPY | 50% | 75% | 95% | 2% | 25 SPY | 200 SPY |
| Robinhood Chain Lighter | USO | 50% | 75% | 95% | 2% | 100 USO | 750 USO |
USDC on Lighter and USDG on Robinhood Chain Lighter stay the base collateral, "always valued at 100% with no liquidation fee or supply cap". You choose how much of each asset to allocate as margin.
What the three percentages mean
- Loan-to-value (LTV) sets how much of the asset counts when you open positions or place orders. 1 ETH worth $4,000 at 70% adds $2,800 of margin.
- Liquidation threshold (LT) is the more generous discount used to decide whether you are being liquidated. It is always at least the LTV.
- Liquidation factor (LF) is the floor on what you receive per unit if the collateral is sold in a liquidation, as a share of its index price. The liquidation fee is capped so you always get at least that.
Two health numbers instead of one
The docs define Total Account Value (TAV) as your USDC portfolio balance plus each collateral asset × its index price × its LTV, and Total Account Liquidation Threshold (TALT) as the same sum with the LT instead. TAV gates new orders; TALT decides liquidation. Because LT ≥ LTV, TALT is always at least TAV, which leaves a buffer: the account stops accepting new risk (TAV below initial margin) before it can be liquidated (TALT below maintenance margin).
The stages mirror Lighter's normal waterfall. Healthy when TAV ≥ initial margin; pre-liquidation when TALT ≥ maintenance but TAV is below initial; partial liquidation when TALT is between maintenance and close-out margin; full liquidation below close-out. The margin requirements themselves are unchanged.
When it goes wrong: collateral is sold too
Below maintenance margin, "both perpetual positions and spot margin assets become eligible for liquidation in a unified flow". Orders are cancelled first, then the engine sends immediate-or-cancel orders at each item's zero price and stops as soon as the account is healthy. For collateral that zero price is the index price × the liquidation factor, so 95% for all four assets above. A basis trade (ETH as collateral, a short ETH perp) or a leveraged long (ETH collateral used to buy more ETH) can both have the collateral itself sold; the full stage logic is on how Lighter liquidates.
FAQ
Can I use ETH margin on spot trades?
Not at launch: the docs say multi-asset margin supports perpetual futures only, with USDC spot trading on non-USDC collateral coming later.
Why are the caps so low?
Lighter calls it "a measured approach", starting with conservative per-user and global limits and adding assets "as the product matures, spot liquidity deepens, and USDC supply grows".
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