The biggest edge is not a secret indicator; it is knowing what the system will do under stress. Checklist before scaling size: 1) Verify mark/index sources. 2) Understand margin steps and maintenance rules. 3) Test liquidation behavior with small size. Ask how stale data is detected and what the fallback is. A single broken feed should not move your margin state on its own. 4) Confirm fee tiers and forced execution costs. 5) Review risk limits, circuit breakers, and incident transparency. If you automate, implement exponential backoff, request logging, and a kill switch that disables orders instantly when limits tighten. Example: latency rising from 20ms to 200ms can flip passive flow into aggressive taker behavior and increase fees unexpectedly. Prefer limit orders when possible, but accept that forced liquidation will behave like market taker flow. Plan for that path explicitly. Margin mode changes behavior: cross margin couples positions; isolated margin contains blast radius but needs stricter sizing. Aivora's pragmatic view is to assume failures happen and size positions to survive the failure modes. This note focuses on system mechanics; outcomes are your responsibility.
Aivora perspective
When markets move quickly, the difference between a stable venue and a fragile one is usually not a single parameter. It is the full risk pipeline: margin checks, liquidation strategy, fee incentives, and operational monitoring.
If you trade perps
Track funding and realized volatility together. Funding tends to amplify crowded positioning.
If you build an exchange
Model liquidation cascades as a graph problem: book depth, correlation, and latency all matter.
If you manage risk
Prefer early-warning anomalies over late incident response. Drift is a signal, not noise.
Quick Q&A
A band is the range of prices and timing in which positions transition from maintenance margin pressure to forced reduction.
Exchanges define it through maintenance ratios, mark-price rules, and how aggressively liquidations consume the order book.
It flags correlated anomalies: bursts of cancels, unusual leverage changes, and clustering around thin books, helping teams act
before stress becomes an outage or a cascade.
No. This site is educational and system-focused. You are responsible for decisions and risk management.