Margining

Margining on the Nexus DEX is executed natively inside NexusCore, the enshrined financial coprocessor suite that powers the DEX. Nexus Layer 1 is designed to support both cross and isolated margin.

In the DEX Alpha, only isolated margin types will be available.

Initial Margin Requirements

When opening a leveraged position, traders must post initial margin, defined by the maximum leverage allowed for a given market.

Initial margin ensures sufficient collateral at entry and is verified atomically by the DEX Co-processor before an order is accepted into the orderbook. The initial margin calculation follows the formula:

$$initial\_margin = \frac{position\_size \times mark\_price}{leverage}$$

Because margin validation runs inside NexusCore, traders benefit from:

• Deterministic enforcement (no race conditions from asynchronous contract calls)

• Sub-second execution aligned with block times

• Atomic settlement with order placement

This ensures both speed and safety at the protocol level.

Maintenance Margin

Maintenance margin is the minimum margin that must be preserved to keep a position open. Falling below this threshold makes a position eligible for liquidation. Each market has its own maintenance margin fraction, calculated as:

$$maintenance\_margin = \frac{1}{max_\_leverage \times 2}$$

Liquidation Process

Positions are liquidated when the mark price from the Nexus Oracle System causes equity to fall below maintenance margin. Refer to the Liquidations page to learn more.