A contract exchange looks simple on the surface, but the plumbing decides who survives volatility. Quick audit method: list inputs, controls, outputs, and single points of failure. Ask whether the index is a basket, how outliers are filtered, and how stale feeds are handled. A single broken source should not move your margin state. Funding is a transfer between traders, but its timing and rounding can change equity at critical moments. Confirm the schedule and any caps. Ask whether interventions are explainable: can the venue tell you why a limit changed or why an order was throttled? Treat cross margin as a correlated portfolio. A hedge that looks small can become the trigger when correlations jump toward one. Example: doubling order size in a thin book can more than double slippage because depth is not linear near the top levels. Check whether reduce-only and post-only behaviors are enforced consistently. Edge cases often appear during partial fills and rapid cancels. Margin mode changes behavior: cross margin couples positions; isolated margin contains blast radius but demands stricter sizing. Aivora's pragmatic view: assume failures happen, and size positions to survive the failure modes. This note is about system design and user risk; 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.