Data as of October 1, 2026. Perpetual contracts are complex instruments and may be liquidated rapidly. Funding rates and mark prices change without notice. Leverage magnifies gains and losses. Fees, network costs, and slippage reduce returns. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
It makes more of your holdings usable as collateral — but because your account works as one connected system, a loss in one position can affect the funds supporting your others.
What problem does Portfolio Margin solve?
On some platforms, your funds are split across separate accounts — a spot account, a perpetual account, a margin account. To open a perpetual trade using funds sitting in your spot account, you’d first have to transfer money between them, leaving you with several balances to manage.
Separate accounts
Spot and perpetual balances are separated You may need to transfer funds Each account has separate available funds
Nado Portfolio Margin
Eligible funds work together No manual transfer between products One account-level margin system
On Nado, Portfolio Margin combines spot, perpetuals, and supported borrowing within one margin account, evaluating your eligible balances, open positions, and unrealized profit or loss together.
How does Portfolio Margin work?
Imagine you deposit 1,000 USDT0 and use part of it to buy an eligible spot asset. On a platform with separate accounts, that spot asset might not help you open a perpetual position. On Nado, eligible spot holdings can contribute collateral value to your account — so you may be able to keep holding the spot asset while using your overall account value to support another trade.
Nado’s risk engine looks at your account as a whole. Note that not every asset provides its full market value as collateral — different assets and markets have different risk requirements, so your available trading power may be lower than the total value displayed.
How can positions offset each other?
Portfolio Margin also considers how your positions interact. For example, if you hold ETH in the spot market and also hold a short ETH perpetual position, a fall in ETH would cause your spot holding to lose value while your short perpetual gains value:
ETH price falls
ETH spot holding Short ETH perpetual Combined portfolio
Result
Loses value Gains value Risks may partially offset
Because these move in opposite directions, part of the loss on one side may be offset by profit on the other. This can reduce the margin required compared with managing each position separately — though the exact benefit depends on Nado’s risk calculations, so don’t assume two positions will offset perfectly.
What is the risk of Portfolio Margin?
Portfolio Margin makes your funds more efficient, but it also connects risk across your account.
Shared collateral also means shared risk. If a BTC position creates a large loss, it reduces your overall account value — leaving less collateral to support a SPYx position, even if SPYx hasn’t moved much. If your account can’t meet its margin requirements, multiple positions may be affected through liquidation.
This is different from Isolated Margin, where you assign a specific amount of USDT0 to one position and its risk is separated from the rest of your account. Nado supports both, with Portfolio Margin used by default within a subaccount.
One important note about leverage
Under Portfolio Margin, the leverage selector helps control the maximum order size you’re preparing — it doesn’t necessarily lock a fixed amount of margin exclusively for that position. Selecting 5× doesn’t always mean exactly 20% of the position value goes into a separate margin box. For beginners, the practical rule: don’t judge your risk from the leverage number alone. Also check your total position size, account health, available margin, and estimated liquidation information.
Key takeaways
Portfolio Margin lets eligible balances and positions work together in one account.
Eligible spot holdings can contribute collateral value to support other trades.
Related positions may partially offset each other, reducing required margin.
Shared collateral means shared risk — a loss in one position can affect others.
Always check overall account health, not just one position.