What is Auto-Exchange?
Auto-Exchange is a risk management mechanism designed to ensure that your USDT-M Futures account balance doesn't fall below a certain threshold.
When the threshold is reached, Auto-Exchange converts your BTC and ETH in your USDT-M Futures account proportionally at the index price.
In the Multi-Assets Collateral mode, Auto-Exchange will be triggered in the following five scenarios:
- When your USDT equity falls below the Auto-Exchange threshold for USDT.
- When your wallet balance is insufficient to cover the deficit during a liquidation.
- When your USDT equity is negative, and you have no open positions or orders.
For example, when an individual user’s USDT balance is -5,000 USDT, Auto-Exchange will be triggered. Assuming BTC has an Auto-Exchange haircut of 2.5%, 5,128.20 USDT (=the calculation would be: 5,000 USDT / 97.5%) equivalent in BTC will be automatically converted to USDT and counted toward the wallet balance.
- When your LTV ratio reaches the threshold.
- When the cumulative negative USDT balances across all users reach a designated risk threshold.
When LTV ≥0.995, Auto-Exchange will be triggered.
Formula: LTV = abs(∑ Negative equity of a crypto * (1 + Auto-Exchange haircut) * Index price) / ∑ Positive equity of a crypto * (1 - Auto-Exchange haircut) * Index price
Examples:
Assume you’re trading in the Multi-Assets Collateral mode. Your USDT-M Futures account has 1 BTC (i.e., 60,000 USDT in equity) and a zero USDT balance. You open an ETHUSDT perpetual contract with a position size of 50,000 USDT in the cross margin mode. There is an Auto-Exchange haircut of 0.05 (5%) for BTC and 0.01 (1%) for USDT, and the LTV threshold is 99.5%.
Scenario 1: When your floating PnL of ETHUSDT positions reaches -10,000 USDT, your current LTV ratio will become 17.71% (= abs (-10,000) * (1 + 0.01) / 60,000 * (1 - 0.05)). Since the LTV ratio is less than the threshold, a conversion will not be triggered.
Scenario 2: When your BTC equity is now 10,000 USD due to its price decrease. Your current LTV ratio will become 106.31% (= abs (-10,000) * (1 + 0.01) / 10,000 * (1 - 0.05)). Since the LTV ratio exceeds the threshold of 99.5%, a conversion is triggered.
To avoid triggering Auto-Exchange, you can transfer assets to your USDT-M Futures account to maintain the negative balance below the -10,000 USDT threshold. If you don't have any open positions or orders and there is a deficit in your USDT-M Futures account, you are advised to transfer sufficient collateral assets to the USDT-M Futures account in a timely manner to prevent the LTV from going above 0.995 (99.5%), which would trigger Auto-Exchange.
To reduce risks, HTX may temporarily adjust the Auto-Exchange threshold and execute the conversion automatically. After Auto-Exchange is triggered, some asset balances in your USDT-M Futures account may display negative values, which does not indicate any additional loss to the account.
Note: In the event there are multiple collateral assets under the Multi-Assets Collateral mode, when Auto-Exchange is triggered, they will be automatically converted to negative assets according to the proportion of each collateral. To reduce the frequency of Auto-Exchange, it is recommended that you:
- Monitor your USDT balance regularly and transfer USDT to your Futures account when necessary.
- Allocate your collateral appropriately to avoid over-concentration in non-USDT assets.
- Reduce your leverage during periods of extreme market volatility to minimize the risk of negative equity.
HTX Team
May 25, 2026
