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    FAQ — Unified Trading Account (UTA)
    bybit2024-03-05 09:16:56

     

     

     

     

    General Inquiries

    What is a Unified Trading Account (UTA)?

    The Bybit Unified Trading Account (UTA) is a versatile all-in-one account mode that offers traders access to multi-currency trading and core trading products, including Spot Trading, Spot Margin Trading, USDT Perpetual, USDC Perpetual, Futures, and USDC Options. It provides traders with a powerful option to combine trading and cross-collateral margin without switching between accounts. 

     

    In simpler words, supported margin assets in UTA can be collateralized and a margin balance in USD (or your selected currency settings) will be calculated. You can use the available margin balance to place orders for trading products supported in UTA even without holding the respective settlement coin. For more information, please visit here.

     

     

     

    What is the difference between a Standard Account and a UTA?

    In a Standard Account, traders must possess the specific asset related to a particular trading product in each different account to participate in trading activities. For UTA, it provides flexibility for traders to use a range of supported margin assets as collateral, eliminating the necessity to hold the exact settlement asset for a specific product. For comprehensive details between a Standard Account and a UTA, please refer to the Comparison Between a Unified Trading Account and Standard Account.

     

     

     

    What are the benefits of UTA?

    Aside from the operational convenience of combining all trading instruments into a single account, UTA offers users several key trading benefits. For more information, please refer to the 8 Key Benefits of Upgrading to Bybit’s Unified Trading Account. 

     

     

     

     

     

    UTA Upgrade Related 

    How to identify if my account is a Unified Trading Account (UTA)?

    With a UTA, you will see the Unified Trading Account type available on your Assets page. To trade Spot, Spot Margin, Leveraged Tokens, USDT Perpetual, USDC Perpetual, USDC Futures, and USDC Options, please ensure you have transferred the margin assets to your Unified Trading Account. 

     

    Please note that all newly registered accounts after Oct 1, 2023 will default as Unified Trading Account.

     

     

     

     

    How would my assets change after I upgrade to UTA?

    Spot Account will be merged into Unified Trading Account. All assets in your Spot Account and USDT/USDC assets in your Derivatives Account will be automatically transferred to the UTA. Non-USDT and USDC assets in the Derivatives Account will be transferred to the Inverse Derivatives Account.

     

    Below is the account structure under UTA:

    1. Funding Account: The function of the Funding Account remains unchanged. You can make deposits or withdrawals via a Funding Account. 

    2. Unified Trading Account: To trade Spot, Spot Margin, Leveraged Tokens, USDT Perpetual, USDC Perpetual and USDC Options.

    3. Inverse Derivatives Account: To trade Inverse contracts. Only settlement assets of the supported Inverse trading pairs can be transferred into the account.

     

     

     

    How to upgrade my Standard Account to UTA?

    You can go to your Spot or Derivatives Account and click on Upgrade Now. For more information, please refer to How to Upgrade Your Standard Account to a Unified Trading Account.

     

    Via Website

     

    Via App

     

     

     

    Why can’t I see the Spot Account after I upgrade to UTA?

    Spot Account will be merged into a Unified Trading Account and you will just need to transfer your assets to a Unified Trading Account to perform Spot Trading, Spot Margin, or Leveraged Tokens trading. To make a deposit or withdrawal, go to the Funding Account.

     

     

     

    Why can’t I transfer USDT to the Inverse Derivatives Account?

    Inverse Derivatives Account only supports non-USDT or USDC assets that can be used to settle Inverse contracts. To trade USDT Perpetual contracts, you can transfer USDT or other margin assets to your Unified Trading Account.

     

     

     

    Are there any changes to my data or trade settings after I upgrade to UTA?

    Your pre-upgraded account data will be accessible after the upgrade and trade settings will remain unchanged after the update. Users with Isolated Margin mode will remain at Isolated Margin mode after the upgrade.

     

     

     

    Can I upgrade to a Unified Trading Account while I participate in Bybit's trading events?

    No, you cannot upgrade to a Unified Trading Account if you participate in any of Bybit’s trading events. Therefore, please make sure that you are not participating in any trading events on Bybit before upgrading to a Unified Trading Account. 

     

     

     

    Can I switch my account back to a Standard Account if I have upgraded to a Unified Trading Account?

    No, please note that reversal is not supported. Traders are advised to try out a Unified Trading Account on the Demo Account before upgrading.

     

     

     

    Why did I fail to upgrade my account to a Unified Trading Account?

    It could be due to you currently having liabilities or active orders in your Standard Account. For more details, please refer to How to Upgrade Your Standard Account to a Unified Trading Account. 

     

     

     

     

     

    Key Terms in UTA

    What is the Initial Margin Rate (IMR)?

    IMR refers to the total amount of margin required by all active orders and open positions under both Derivatives (excl. Inverse) and Spot Margin Trading, in USD. If the IMR is equal to or greater than 100%, it means that all margin balance has been deployed for your active orders and open positions and you would no longer be able to place active orders that may increase your position size.

     

     

     

    What is the Maintenance Margin Rate (MMR)?

    MMR refers to the minimum amount of margin required for holding positions in Derivatives (excl. Inverse) and Margin Trading on Spot, in USD. Liquidation may be triggered if your margin balance is equal to or less than your maintenance margin (i.e. maintenance margin rate is equal to or greater than 100%).

     

     

     

    What is Order Loss?

    With USDT Perpetual and USDC Perpetual, users may experience a deviation in order price and current Mark Price. If the price of a buy order is higher than the Mark Price, or the price of a sell order is lower than the Mark Price, it will result in an immediate equity loss once the order is filled. This loss is known as the potential order loss from pending Perpetual and Futures orders and we need to consider this when calculating the margin balance. For more details, please refer to Glossary (Unified Trading Account).

     

     

     

    What is Haircut Loss?

    When a collateral value ratio of a coin is set below 100%, such as 85%, it means that only a fraction of the asset's value, specifically 85%, can be used as collateral. This reduction in the collateral’s value is known as haircut loss. It is the total potential value loss of margin due to pending Spot orders. To view the collateral value ratio for each coin, please refer to Margin Specification.

     

     

     

    What is Equity and Wallet Balance in UTA?

    Equity comprises the Wallet Balance, as well as the Unrealized P&L of the Derivatives contract(s) and the Option value. The Wallet Balance is the amount of assets you physically hold in your UTA wallet calculated in USD.

     

     

     

    What is the Margin Balance and is this the amount I can use to place an order?

    Margin Balance is only relevant in UTA Cross Margin and Portfolio Margin mode. It is the total amount that can be used as a margin in your account, including Wallet Balance, and Unrealized P&L of Perpetual contracts. If the margin balance falls below the maintenance margin, liquidation will be triggered. Do note that the value is a converted value after considering the asset index price and collateral value ratio and not the actual USD amount held in your account. 


    While Margin Balance shows the amount that can be used as a margin in your account, Available Balance is the available margin balance that you can use to place an order. You can see the Available Balance for order placement on the trading page.

     

    Via Website

     

    Via App




    Why is the Margin Balance shown on my Assets page different from the amount of assets I held? How is it calculated?

    Only assets that are enabled to be Used as Collateral will be calculated as Margin Balance. Also, according to the different liquidity conditions of each coin, the collateral value ratio of different assets varies. The total margin balance in USD value of your Unified Trading Account is based on the following calculation: 

     

    Total Asset Value (in USD) = Sum (Asset 1 × Corresponding USD Index Price × Corresponding Collateral Value Ratio + …. + Asset N × Corresponding USD Index Price × Corresponding  Collateral Value Ratio)

     

    The collateral value ratio only applies to assets with a positive balance. For assets with a negative balance, the collateral value ratio will default to 100%, regardless of what asset it is. To view the collateral value ratio of each coin, please refer to the Margin Specification.




    How to derive the USD Index Price?

    The USD Index Price can be derived as follows:

     

    USD Index Price = USDT Perpetual Index Price x USDT Conversion Rate

    USDT Conversion Rate = BTCUSD Index Price / BTCUSDT Index Price

     

    If there is no USDT Perpetual Index Price for a certain coin, the Last Traded Price from the Bybit Spot market will be taken as a reference. Take ETH as an example, the USD index price for ETH will be ETHUSDT Index Price x USDT Conversion Rate. 




    What is the transferable amount?

    The transferable amount on your UTA asset page is the maximum amount of the respective coin that you can transfer out from UTA for withdrawal. This is an estimated amount after considering the unrealized loss, initial margin, frozen amount for active orders or borrowings, haircut loss, order loss, or any negative option value. 


    The actual amount that can be transferred is subject to the real-time display in the Transfer window. You will not be able to transfer out more funds from UTA when IMR reaches 100%.  Please note that unrealized profit can only be used for trades but cannot be transferred out. 

     

     

     

     

     

    Trading Related

    What margin modes are supported by UTA?

    Isolated Margin, Cross Margin, and Portfolio Margin modes are supported in UTA. For more information, please visit here.

     

     

     

    How can I switch my margin mode?

    You can switch your margin mode from any trading page or Unified Trading Account asset page. Please note that to switch to Cross Margin mode, the leverage and risk limit used for two-way positions (long and short positions) must be the same. Otherwise, the switch will fail. For more information, please refer to the criteria to switch margin modes stated here.  

     

     

     

     

    Can I have different margin modes for different trading pairs?

    No, the margin mode selected will be applied to the account level and all trading pairs.

     

     

     

    Can I have different leverage for different trading pairs?

    Yes, you can have different leverages for different trading pairs. However, do note that under Cross Margin Hedge mode, traders are not able to set different leverage for long and short directions.

     

     

     

    What position mode is supported in UTA?

    Both One-way and two-way (Hedge) modes are supported in Cross Margin and Isolated Margin modes. For the two-way (Hedge) mode, only USDT Perpetual is supported. 

     

     

     

    What are the differences between each margin mode?

    For the details of the difference between each margin mode under UTA, please visit here.

     

     

     

    What is Portfolio Margin mode?

    Under Portfolio Margin mode, traders can offset the Collateral Risk and unrealized PnL between Spot and Derivatives. It is a risk-based margin policy that uses Stress Testing (the mark price and implied volatility of the underlying asset) to calculate the overall risk of a portfolio. For more information, please refer to Margin Calculations under Portfolio Margin (UTA).




    Does Spot hedging necessarily reduce the overall margin under Portfolio Margin mode?

    Enabling Spot hedging generally decreases the overall margin requirement under Portfolio Margin mode. However, certain scenarios may lead to an increase in margin:

    • Insufficient Spot assets held in the Unified Trading Account.

    • Inability to risk hedge the spot and derivative positions, due to opposing delta directions.

    • Significant price deviation between the index price and the underlying price for the Derivative position.




    Is Spot hedging optional?

    Yes, traders have the freedom to decide whether to engage in Portfolio Margin (PM) hedging for Spot assets. By default, the Spot hedging in Portfolio Margin mode is not enabled. To enable it, the system will check if your MMR is below 100% after switching, otherwise, the activation will not be successful.

     

     

     

    Why am I unable to place an order?

    This might be due to your account having an Initial Margin Rate (IMR) of 100%. Please be aware that when the account's IMR is 100%, new Derivatives and spot margin orders that would occupy the margin cannot be placed. For more details, please refer to the Trading Rules: Liquidation Process (Unified Trading Account)

     

     

     

    Can I place an order even if the available balance for the settlement coin is insufficient in UTA?

    Yes, if you are using Cross Margin or Portfolio Margin mode, as long as you have supported collateral assets and its equivalent USD value under the account is sufficient, you can open your positions or place orders. However, it may incur liabilities (in that currency) after the trade is executed. You can view the respective available balance under each trading page. 

     

    For the Isolated Margin mode, you will need to hold the respective settlement coin to trade the products. For example, you will need to have USDT to trade a USDT Perpetual contract. Under Isolated Margin mode, only Spot Trading, USDT Perpetual and USDC Perpetual & Futures are supported. 

     

     

     

    Can I open a position with unrealized profits?

    Yes, UTA enhances capital efficiency by allowing traders to use unrealized profits to open new positions. This means that even if a position hasn't been closed, its unrealized profits can be leveraged for new trades. However, it is important to note that while this strategy increases potential gains, it also raises the account risk if the market moves unfavorably. Please note that this is only applicable for Cross Margin and Portfolio Margin mode. For more information on how unrealized PnL can affect your available balance, please visit here

     

     

     

    Can all assets in the Unified Trading Account be used as collateral?

    Not all assets in UTA can be used as collateral for Derivatives and Spot Margin trading. To view the supported margin assets, please visit here.

     

     

     

    Can I select which assets to use as collateral for trading? 

    Yes, you can choose the assets you want to use as collateral on your UTA asset page. Please note that USDT and USDC will always be set as default collateral, and their collateral status cannot be turned off. For more information, please refer to Collateral and Borrowable Assets (Unified Trading Account).

     

     

     

    How to assess my UTA account risk?

    Isolated Margin Mode: Under UTA Isolated Margin mode, you assess your account risk with the same method under Derivatives trading in a Standard Account. 

     

    Cross Margin or Portfolio Margin Mode: Under UTA Cross Margin or Portfolio Margin mode, you are using the Initial Margin Rate (IMR) and Maintenance Margin Rate (MMR) to assess your account risk. When MMR reaches 100%, the liquidation process will be triggered. 

     

    For more details, please refer to the Trading Rules: Liquidation Process (Unified Trading Account)

     

     

     

    Why is my profitable position still being liquidated?

    This could happen when you are in Cross Margin or Portfolio Margin mode. Liquidation is triggered when the account Maintenance Margin rate (MMR ) reaches 100%. If you hold multiple positions and some of them incur losses, causing your account MMR to hit 100%, liquidation will still be triggered, and the Derivatives positions will be closed based on their specified liquidity order outlined here.

     

     

     

    Under what circumstances will I receive a risk notification for a Unified Trading Account?

    You may receive three (3) risk alert notifications via email as follows:

     

    1. Auto Repayment Alert: When the Maintenance Margin Rate of your Unified Trading Account is 90% and your account currently has a borrowed amount, you will receive an email to inform you that your margin assets will be sold to settle all liabilities if your maintenance margin utilization reaches 100%. You will receive such risk email notification no more frequently than every four (4) hours.

     

    2. Derivatives Liquidation Alert: If the Maintenance Margin Rate is > 85%, and there are Derivative positions in the account, you will receive an email to inform you that liquidation will be triggered once the Maintenance Margin Rate reaches 100%. You will receive such warning emails no more frequently than every four (4) hours.

     

    3. Maximum Borrowing Amount Alert:

    • When your borrowing amount reaches 90% of the maximum borrowing limit, a risk email will be sent.
    • When your borrowing amount reaches 100% of the maximum borrowing limit, you will receive a risk email. A delay on Auto Repayment will be granted. If any of the below two conditions happens, the Auto Repayment will trigger immediately.
      • The duration for the borrowed amount exceeding 100% of the maximum borrowing limit is longer than 24 hours.
      • The borrowing amount reaches 200% of the maximum borrowing limit.
    • A risk reminder will be sent again on 6, 12, and 23 hours after receiving the above email respectively.

     

    Note: It is strongly recommended for users to continue monitoring their account in case of risk alert delay or glitch. Bybit will not be held responsible for liquidations resulting directly or indirectly from this alert feature’s malfunction.

     

     

     

    Are my bonuses/coupons affected after I upgrade to a Unified Trading Account?

    No, after you upgraded your account to a Unified Trading Account, you can use the bonuses/coupons you received. However, you will not be able to claim your bonus/coupons from the Rewards Hub until the upgrade process is complete. You will also be unable to claim your rewards if you have a negative wallet balance in UTA. 

     

    Please note that in the event of receiving both bonus and coupons at the same time, the bonus will be used before the coupon.

     

     

     

    Where can I view the Order Limits for UTA?

    You can view the order limits for UTA here, including the collateral value ratio, borrowing limits, contract price limit, maximum and minimum order size, risk limit tier, and more. 




    I have set a Stop Loss before my liquidation price, but why am I still getting liquidated?

    Isolated Margin Mode: Under UTA Isolated Margin mode, the liquidation is triggered when Mark Price reaches the position liquidation price. If users set a stop loss using the Last Traded Price (LTP) or Index Price as a reference trigger price, the Mark Price can reach the liquidation price before your LTP or Index Price does. For more information, please visit here.


    Cross Margin or Portfolio Margin Mode: Under UTA Cross Margin or Portfolio Margin mode,  liquidation is triggered when MMR reaches 100%. The MMR can be affected by the asset value of your margin assets, your Derivatives’ unrealized PnL, and any haircut losses. Therefore, the initial set stop loss trigger price may not be relevant over time. Traders can always utilize the MMR Close order as part of their risk management strategy, where the position will be closed when the account MMR reaches the set MMR level. For more information, please refer to the Maintenance Margin Rate (MMR) Close Order. 

     

     

     

     

     

    Borrowing and Repayment Related

    How does borrowing occur?

    Any of the below scenarios will generate a borrowed amount and the system will process an auto borrowing of the assets in UTA:

    • Your wallet balance has been reduced due to a transaction, such as a trading fee, funding fee, or Options premium paid

    • Perpetual and Futures contracts record unrealized losses and the borrowed amount will fluctuate according to the unrealized losses

    • Decrease in value of USDC Options positions

    • Assets are borrowed for Margin Trading

     

    For more detailed examples, please refer to Borrowing and Repayment (Unified Trading Account)

     

     

     

    How to repay the borrowed amount?

    Currently, traders can do manual repayment on the UTA via the few methods stated below: 

     

    1. Go to Unified Trading Account and click on the Repay button for repayment. Please note that Bybit will charge a 0.1% repayment handling fee (conversion fee from margin assets into borrowed coins) on the total repayment amount. For more details, please visit here. 

     

    1. Make a deposit or manually transfer assets in the respective borrowed amount from another account to your Unified Trading Account. The borrowed amount will be deducted from your positive wallet balance immediately.

     

    1. Manually sell other margin assets through Spot Trading to convert them into the assets that you borrowed. However, please note that if the Initial Margin Rate (IMR) is 100%, you are not allowed to place an order to buy assets with a lower collateral value ratio using assets with a high collateral value ratio. You can log in to your Unified Trading Account and check the collateral value ratio from here.

     

     

     

    Do I need to pay interest on each borrowing?

    Yes, interest is charged on all realized borrowings, including borrowed amounts from Spot Margin Trading, realized trading or funding fees, realized Options premiums, and realized position losses. Please note that a penalty interest will be charged when it exceeds 100% of the maximum borrowing limit. The interest charges will be multiplied by the cube of the utilization ratio.

     

    For unrealized borrowings resulting from unrealized loss in the Derivatives position, an interest-free range is provided. Borrowings within this range do not incur interest. If the borrowings arise from unrealized losses exceeding the interest-free amount range, interest will be charged on the entire borrowed amount and interest is accrued hourly. 

     

    For more information, please refer to Borrowing and Repayment (Unified Trading Account)

     

     

     

    What are the maximum interest-free and borrowing limits under the Unified Trading Account?

    A maximum borrowing amount is a limit on the amount of borrowing you can hold on an individual account while the maximum interest-free amount is the maximum amount of borrowing that arises from unrealized loss that can be exempted from interest charges. 

     

    The maximum interest-free amount applies exclusively to USDT and USDC. Please note that the interest-free limit is calculated on a per-account basis, while the maximum borrowing limit is shared among your Main Account and Subaccounts. For more detailed examples, you can find additional information in the Borrowing and Repayment (Unified Trading Account).

     

    To find the UTA maximum interest-free amount for each VIP level, please refer to this link. For the UTA maximum borrowing limit, visit the Margin Data page.

     

     

     

    When will interest be calculated and deducted?

    Once the borrowing has been incurred, interest will be charged hourly. The system will auto-calculate and charge the interest five minutes after each hour, such as 8:05AM UTC or 9:05AM UTC, etc based on the interest rate and amount of borrowing at that time. 

     

    The interest rate for Unified Trading Account is not fixed and it is subject to change on a real-time basis. For more information on how the interest rate is derived, please refer to Bybit Floating Interest Rate System

     

    Formula: 

    Hourly Interest Payment = Borrowing Amount × Hourly Interest Rate

     

    Cross Margin 

    Borrowed Amount = ABS [Min (0, Equity − Buy Option Initial Margin - Positive Option Value − Asset Frozen)]

    Portfolio Margin

    Borrowed Amount = ABS [Min (0, Equity − Asset Frozen)]

    Equity = Asset Wallet Balance + Perpetual and Futures UPL + Options Value

     

    Please note that a penalty interest will be charged when your borrowing amount exceeds 100% of the maximum borrowing limit. The interest charges will be multiplied by the cube of the utilization ratio.

     

    Penalty Interest Payment = Borrowing Amount × Hourly Interest Rate  × (utilization ratio)3

     

    For example, assuming the current borrowing amount is 3,000,000 USDT and the hourly interest rate is 0.0001%, the penalty interest charge is as follows: 

    Utilization Ratio = 3,000,000/2,500,000 = 120%.

    Penalty interest = 3,000,000 × 0.0001%  × (1.2)3 = 5.184 USDT

     

     

     

    If I have multiple collateral assets in my Unified Trading Account, which assets will be used as collateral for my borrowings?

    There is no specific order in which collateral assets are prioritized. When you have multiple collateral assets that are sufficient to cover your borrowings, you can select which assets to be transferred out from your Unified Trading Account, until the IMR reaches 100%. 

     

     

     

    I did not initiate a repayment on my UTA, why did the system perform auto repayment on my behalf?

    In the following scenarios, auto repayment will be triggered in UTA.

    • The asset borrowing for the corresponding asset exceeds the maximum borrowing amount. Assets with sufficient available balance under the Unified Trading Account will be sold to buy assets with insufficient available balance. This reduces the borrowed amount to 90% of the maximum borrowing amount.

    • When the user holds Spot Margin orders, USDT Perpetual, USDC Perpetual, and/or USDC Options positions under the Unified Trading Account, and the MM rate of the account is ≥ 100%. 

     

    For more details on the auto repayment process, please refer to Borrowing and Repayment (Unified Trading Account).

     

     

     

    Where can I view my borrowing, interest, and repayment history?

    You can go to your Unified Trading Account asset page to view the history. For more information, please visit here.

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