Hyperliquid「组合保证金」上线：瞄准传统金融7万亿美元的增量剧本

Against the backdrop of overall tight liquidity conditions, Hyperliquid has introduced one of the most significant upgrades to date—introducing the Portfolio Margin mechanism, which has been proven effective in traditional finance, into the blockchain-based derivatives market. This model has already played a crucial role in the traditional derivatives industry, significantly reducing the amount of margin required while improving the utilization of funds. Now, this mechanism is being applied in DeFi and Perp DEXs. It not only enhances the efficiency of blockchain-based liquidity but also potentially changes the way high-frequency traders and institutional investors participate in the market, becoming a key milestone for the further growth of blockchain-based derivatives.

What is Hyperliquid’s Portfolio Margin?

Let’s start with the most obvious changes.

In most CEXs and Perp DEXs, we had to distinguish between “spot accounts,” “contract accounts,” “loan accounts,” etc. Each account had its own calculation methods. But with the introduction of Portfolio Margin at Hyperliquid, these distinctions are no longer necessary.

With the same amount of money, you can hold spot assets simultaneously, or use them as collateral for contracts. If your available balance is insufficient for placing an order, the system will automatically check if there are any eligible assets in your account. Then, it will borrow the necessary funds from within your account’s limit, allowing you to complete the transaction without any noticeable impact on your experience.

Even better, the “idle funds” in your account will also generate interest automatically.

在Portfolio Margin账户中，只要某种资产属于可借出的范围，并且当前没有被交易或保证金占用，系统就会自动把它视为供给资金，开始按照当前的资金利用率计息。大部分HIP-3 DEX都会纳入投资组合保证金计算，不需要把资产单独存进某个借贷池，也不需要频繁在不同协议之间来回切换。

配合HyperEVM，这套机制还打开了更多想象空间：未来可以接入更多链上借贷协议，HyperCore的新资产类别和衍生品也将陆续支持投资组合保证金。整个生态正在变成一个有机整体。

自然而然的，清算的方式也发生了变化。

Hyperliquid不再针对单一仓位设置强平线，而是监控整个账户的安全状态。只要现货价值、合约仓位和借贷关系加在一起，仍然满足最低维持要求，账户就是安全的。某一个仓位的短期波动，不会立刻触发清算;只有当整个账户的风险暴露超过阈值时，系统才会介入。

当然，在目前的pre-alpha阶段，Hyperliquid也很克制。可借资产、可用抵押品、每个账户的额度都有上限，一旦触顶就会自动退回普通模式。目前只有USDC可以借，HYPE是唯一的抵押资产。下一阶段将加入USDH作为可借贷资产，以及BTC作为抵押资产。但这一阶段更适合用小额账户熟悉流程，而不是追求策略规模。

Before discussing the significance of the Hyperliquid upgrade to Portfolio Margin, we need to take a look back at how this mechanism has evolved in traditional finance, as well as its impact. Only then can we truly understand why this is one of Hyperliquid’s most important upgrades over time.

How did Portfolio Margin save the traditional financial derivatives market?

The stock market crash of 1929 was another notable systemic financial collapse, preceding the financial crisis of 2008.

In the 1920s, America was in a period of post-war prosperity and rapid industrialization. Automobiles, electricity, steel, radio—almost every new industry during that era demonstrated signs of prosperity. The stock market became the most direct way for ordinary people to participate in this prosperity, and the use of leverage may have been even more common than today.

At that time, buying stocks involved a very common practice called “on margin.” You didn’t have to pay the full amount; you only needed to provide about 10% of the total cost, with the rest being borrowed from brokers. The problem was that there were almost no limits on such leverage, and there was also little regulation. Banks, brokers, and dealers were intertwined, with loans nested within each other. Many of the borrowed funds came from short-term loans taken elsewhere. Behind each stock might be several layers of debt.

Starting in the spring and summer of 1929, the market experienced several severe fluctuations, and some investors began to withdraw their funds quietly. But the prevailing sentiment at that time was: “This is just a healthy correction. After all, the U.S. economy is strong, industries are expanding, and production is growing. How could the stock market really collapse?”

But a market crash is extremely difficult to predict. On October 24, 1929, the market opened with unprecedented selling pressure. Stock prices plummeted rapidly, and brokerages began sending notices of margin calls to investors’ accounts. However, this became difficult for investors to comply with. As a result, large-scale forced liquidations occurred, leading to further price drops. These drops in turn triggered more accounts to be liquidated. A chain reaction ensued, causing the market to lose control completely. Stock prices were broken down layer by layer, without any buffer period. Unlike in 2008, in 1929 there was no single iconic institution like Lehman Brothers that collapsed; instead, the entire financing system collapsed together. The collapse of stock prices spread quickly to brokers, then to banks. Banks failed due to losses on securities and runs from investors. Companies lost their sources of financing and began to lay off employees and close factories. The market crash didn’t stop at the financial system alone; it directly dragged the U.S. economy into a decade-long depression. It was against this backdrop that regulators developed an almost instinctive fear of leverage. For those who had experienced such crashes, the only reliable solution was to strictly limit everyone’s ability to borrow money. In 1934, the U.S. government established a regulatory framework centered around limiting leverage, setting minimum margin requirements. Like many regulatory measures, this policy was well-intentioned, but its simplicity led to a lack of liquidity. It can be said that since then, the U.S. derivatives market has been subject to restrictions for a long time.

The contradictions associated with these constraints were not addressed until the 1980s.

Futures, options, and interest rate derivatives developed rapidly. Institutional traders no longer relied solely on one-way bets; instead, they utilized a variety of hedging, arbitrage, spread, and portfolio strategies. These strategies themselves are low-risk and low-volatility, but they require high turnover to be profitable. Therefore, under such constraints, capital efficiency is severely limited. If this approach continues, the growth potential of the derivatives market will be very limited.

It was against this backdrop that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange took a key step in 1988 by implementing the Portfolio Margin mechanism.

This had a immediate impact on the market structure. Subsequent statistics show that the Portfolio Margin mechanism helped to create at least $7.2 trillion in additional trading volume for the derivatives market within the traditional financial system.

This amount is indeed substantial—after all, today’s cryptocurrency market has a total value of only $3 trillion.

What does this mean for the blockchain-based derivatives market?

Now, Hyperliquid has brought this mechanism to the blockchain. This marks the first time the Portfolio Margin mechanism has been truly applied to blockchain-based derivatives markets.

The first effect of this is a significant improvement in the efficiency of crypto funds. With the same amount of money, the Portfolio Margin system can support more transactions and更复杂策略的实施.

But more importantly, this change has opened up new possibilities for a large category of institutions that traditionally focused solely on traditional financial activities. After all, as mentioned earlier, most professional market makers and institutional investors don’t care about the amount of money they make from a single transaction. What matters is the overall efficiency of their capital over time.

If a market doesn’t support portfolio margining, then their hedging positions will be treated as high-risk investments, resulting in high levels of margin requirements. Naturally, the return on investment won’t be comparable to those obtained through traditional trading platforms. In such cases, even if these institutions are interested in the blockchain-based market, it’s difficult for them to invest substantial amounts of capital.

This is why, within the traditional financial system, Portfolio Margin is considered a fundamental component of derivatives trading platforms. Without it, institutions cannot maintain long-term liquidity and implement sophisticated trading strategies.Hyperliquid’s recent upgrade essentially aims to attract these traditional institutions and investors.

When such funds enter the market, the impact isn’t just limited to an increase in trading volume. There’s also a deeper transformation in the market structure. The proportion of hedging positions, arbitrage trades, and market-making activities increases, leading to a more liquid market, smaller price differences between buy and sell orders, and greater control over extreme market conditions.