What is auto-deleveraging (ADL)? Who gets closed, and at what price
Figures on this page are as of 2026-09. Fees, limits and margin tiers change — check the venue's own docs.
Auto-deleveraging (ADL) is a derivatives venue’s last-resort step when a bankrupt position’s loss cannot be absorbed any other way: the venue force-closes positions on the opposite side, ranked so that the most profitable and most leveraged go first, without those traders placing an order.
This page is for anyone holding perpetual positions — by hand or through a bot — who wants to know how a winning position can be closed without a click. It covers what triggers ADL on Binance, Bybit, OKX and Hyperliquid, how each ranks the queue, what price you are closed at, and how automated systems should respond.
Why this matters now
Liquidation is something that happens to losing positions, and most risk tooling is built around it. ADL is the reverse: it happens to profitable positions, because of somebody else’s loss. It arrives without warning in the order flow, it can break a hedge in the middle of a move, and on Bybit it also cancels all the affected user’s active orders.
For a bot, that means the position the strategy thinks it holds is gone, and the protective orders it placed may be gone too. A strategy that has not been written to expect this carries on from a state that no longer exists.
How it actually works
- A position goes bankrupt. Its liquidation filled beyond the point where its margin is used up, or, on Hyperliquid, an account or isolated position value has gone negative.
- The first backstop cannot absorb it. On the three centralised venues, that backstop is the insurance fund.
- The venue’s ADL trigger fires. Each defines it differently — see the table below.
- Positions on the opposite side are ranked. The ranking favours profit and leverage.
- Top-ranked positions are closed against the bankrupt one, at a price the venue specifies, until the trigger condition clears.
What triggers it
| Venue | ADL trigger |
|---|---|
| Binance USDⓈ-M | “The final step in the liquidation process”, occurring only if the Futures Insurance Funds cannot accept a bankrupt position. |
| Bybit | Either of two conditions: a symbol’s losses over a rolling 8-hour window reach its “8H PnL Drawdown Trigger Line” relative to the pool’s highest balance in that window (ADL stops at a lower drawdown stop line); or the combined balance of several independent pools falls to zero or below. |
| OKX | The present value of an applicable security fund drops significantly below a preset threshold (plus a pre-market-only trigger based on liquidation volume). ADL ends when the fund exceeds the threshold plus a buffer. Applies to perpetual, expiry futures and options positions. |
| Hyperliquid | A user’s account value, or isolated position value, becomes negative. |
Bybit’s per-symbol trigger and stop lines are published on its ADL page and change, so they are not quoted here. OKX notes that the older trigger described on legacy pages has been superseded.
Who is closed first
Each venue publishes its ranking. The formulas differ; the direction does not.
| Venue | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Binance | PnL% = unrealised profit ÷ abs(position notional). Effective leverage = abs(position notional) ÷ (account balance + unrealised profit). Ranking = PnL% × effective leverage if PnL ≥ 0; PnL% ÷ effective leverage if PnL < 0. |
| Bybit | Opposing positions ranked by leveraged return. Profitable positions have priority, but losing ones “may still be selected”. |
| OKX | Profitable: unrealised PnL% ÷ account-level maintenance margin ratio. Loss-making: unrealised PnL% × account-level maintenance margin ratio. Hedged, delta-neutral portions rank lower. |
| Hyperliquid | Ranked by unrealised PnL and leverage, with the sorting index (mark_price / entry_price) * (notional_position / account_value). Backstop-liquidated positions get no special treatment. |
Why profitable, high-leverage positions go first
The venues publish the formulas, not the reasoning, so what follows is our reading of the mechanism.
The bankrupt position’s loss is the other side’s profit. Somebody holds the offsetting gain. Closing that position against the bankrupt one cancels the two exposures together, which is what the venue needs.
A profitable position can absorb the close price. Where the close happens at the bankrupt trader’s bankruptcy price, that price is typically worse than the market for the counterparty. A position deep in profit gives up some of the gain and remains in profit. A losing position forced out at the same price could be pushed towards its own bankruptcy, which is the problem ADL exists to stop.
Leverage measures exposure per unit of collateral. A highly leveraged winner carries the most notional against the least equity. Closing it removes the most exposure from the system per unit of account affected.
The arithmetic has a practical side. In Binance’s formula, adding balance lowers effective leverage and so lowers the ranking. In OKX’s, a higher account-level maintenance margin ratio — a better-collateralised account — lowers a profitable position’s rank. In Hyperliquid’s, higher account value lowers the index. The inputs you control are leverage and collateral.
At what price you are closed
| Venue | Close price | Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Binance | The bankrupt trader’s bankruptcy price | No trading fee charged to the deleveraged trader |
| Bybit | The bankruptcy price | Affected users are emailed and have all active orders cancelled |
| OKX | Normally the mark price; the bankruptcy price if the fund is nearly depleted | No trading fee on deleveraged positions |
| Hyperliquid | The previous mark price, against the underwater user | — |
ADL vs liquidation
| Liquidation | Auto-deleveraging | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose position | The losing one | A profitable one on the opposite side |
| Triggered by | Your own margin falling to maintenance | Another position’s loss exceeding the backstop |
| Executed | Into the order book | Directly against the bankrupt position |
| Price | Whatever the book gives | Set by the venue’s rule, above |
| You can see it coming | From your margin ratio | From the venue’s ADL indicator |
Hyperliquid states one invariant worth knowing: a user with no open positions will not socialise any losses of the platform. ADL only reaches open positions.
Where the boundary should sit
- Read the indicator. Binance shows an ADL-likelihood indicator in its UI.
Bybit returns
adlRankIndicatorfromGET /v5/position/list. OKX shows one to five bars in its UI, and its APIadlfield on positions is documented with a range of 0 to 5 — do not map one scale onto the other. OKX also pushes anadl-warningWebSocket channel when the state iswarningoradl. - Treat an unexplained close as a possible ADL. If a position shrinks or disappears with no fill from your own orders, reconcile before doing anything else — see position reconciliation. Do not re-enter from stale state.
- Re-place protective orders. On Bybit, deleveraged users have all active orders cancelled. A stop or take-profit your bot believes is resting may not be.
- Watch the other leg. A hedge across two venues, or across two contracts, becomes a naked position the moment one leg is deleveraged. On OKX, hedged portions rank lower; hedge position modes are covered in what is hedge mode.
- Know what moves your rank. Lower effective leverage and more collateral lower it on every venue above. Whether that is worth doing is a trading decision, not a mechanical one.
The liquidation side of the same chain — where bankruptcy prices come from — is covered in how liquidation price is calculated and by the venue calculators for Binance Futures and OKX.
FAQ
What is auto-deleveraging in crypto futures?
It is the step a venue takes when a bankrupt position’s loss cannot be covered by its insurance fund or backstop. The venue closes positions on the opposite side, ranked by profit and leverage, directly against the bankrupt position. The traders affected do not place an order; their positions are reduced or closed by the venue.
Why was my profitable position closed when I did nothing?
Most likely auto-deleveraging. When an opposing position went bankrupt and the backstop could not absorb the loss, the venue ranked profitable, leveraged positions on your side and closed from the top. Check your venue’s ADL indicator and trade history; Bybit also emails affected users and cancels their active orders.
Can I avoid being auto-deleveraged?
You cannot opt out, but you can lower your place in the queue. Every ranking formula published by Binance, OKX and Hyperliquid falls as effective leverage falls or account collateral rises, and Bybit ranks by leveraged return. Taking profit reduces the profitable exposure that ranks highest.
What price do I get when I am auto-deleveraged?
It depends on the venue. Binance and Bybit close at the bankrupt trader’s bankruptcy price. OKX normally uses the mark price, switching to the bankruptcy price if its security fund is nearly depleted. Hyperliquid closes at the previous mark price. Binance and OKX charge no trading fee on the deleveraged side.