The original article is posted on CoinMarketCap.

As Trump announced its notorious tariffs for imports from Mexico, Canada, and China, over $2 billion-worth trading positions ended up liquidated.

The main reason for this? Not the volatility (which is undoubtedly extreme in this day and age), but the lack of precautions against it.

As the market is spiking, elaborate risk-management again takes its utmost relevance.

To help you meet the next market swing fully armed, this article introduces a new saving tool for your trades – isolated margin strategy.

Below: why isolated margin is (probably) one of the best toolkits to survive the 2025 market, how to implement it as simply as effectively, and what features of your hands-on exchange can make it happen.

TL;DR

Isolated margin trading ensures that no single bad trade wipes out your entire portfolio, keeping risk contained within each individual position.
While it grants greater control, traders must stay vigilant—each position requires active monitoring, and higher capital commitments may be necessary.
Traders use sub-accounts to separate strategies, ensuring one experiment doesn’t interfere with another and allowing precise execution across different markets.
Exchanges offer built-in risk management tools, from customizable margin levels to sub-accounts. They’re available on OKX, WhiteBIT, Kraken, and other top exchanges..

What is Isolated Margin

Isolated margin trading allows traders to allocate a fixed amount of funds to a specific position, ensuring that potential losses are limited to that allocation. Unlike cross-margin trading, where all available funds in the account can be used to cover losses, isolated margin ensures that other positions and the trader’s overall balance remain unaffected by adverse price movements in a single trade.

This approach is particularly useful for high-risk trades, as it provides a structured risk management strategy. If a position moves against the trader, liquidation occurs only within the allocated margin, preventing a total account wipeout. Traders often use isolated margin to manage leverage effectively and avoid overexposure.

Benefits and Challenges of Isolated Margin

Isolated margin trading provides traders with enhanced risk management by allocating a fixed amount of funds to each position. This approach limits potential losses to the assigned margin, ensuring that the rest of the portfolio remains unaffected by a single trade’s outcome. It is particularly beneficial in volatile markets, where sudden price swings can trigger liquidations.

A major advantage of isolated margin is the ability to define risk exposure precisely, allowing for controlled and diversified trading strategies. However, it requires active management—each position must be monitored and adjusted individually. Unlike cross-margin trading, where funds are shared, isolated margin demands higher capital allocation per trade.

Trading Tactics for Isolated Margin: Nutshell

A structured approach to risk management is crucial when using isolated margin trading. A common strategy involves allocating only a fixed percentage of the portfolio to leveraged positions. For instance, a trader may commit 30% of their capital to a leveraged Ethereum long trade while reserving the remaining 70% for other strategies. This method helps limit downside risk and maintain overall portfolio stability.

Additionally, diversification plays a key role in risk control. By utilizing isolated margin accounts, traders can spread funds across multiple positions, ensuring that an adverse move in one trade does not affect the entire portfolio. This reduces concentration risk while allowing independent risk management for each position.

Implementing structured capital allocation and diversification strategies helps traders optimize their risk exposure, protect assets, and navigate volatile markets more efficiently.

How to Use Isolated Margin Trading on Exchange

Most leading cryptocurrency exchanges support isolated margin trading, enabling traders to manage risk separately for each position. This approach offers flexibility in adjusting margin amounts, ensuring better control over potential losses.

Customizable leverage is another key feature, letting traders apply different leverage levels per position.

What is more, many top exchanges, including Kraken, WhiteBIT, and OKX, also offer sub-accounts, allowing users to segment strategies while maintaining streamlined account management.

Isolated Margin and Sub-Accounts

Sub-accounts and isolated margin trading offer traders greater control over risk and strategy management. By allocating separate funds to different trading approaches, sub-accounts prevent a single misstep from compromising the entire portfolio.

How to Set Sub-Accounts

To demonstrate the actual usage of sub-accounts, two exchanges were chosen: OKX and WhiteBIT. Both represent two common set-up flow types.

To set up a sub-account on OKX, you should:

№1. Log in to your OKX account

№2. Navigate to Profile and select "Sub-accounts"

№3. Click "+Create sub-account"

A Standard Sub-account on OKX allows deposits, internal transfers, and independent trading strategies for spot and futures markets but does not permit withdrawals.

Meanwhile, a Managed Trading Sub-account is designed for professional trading teams, offering advanced trading configurations and requiring an additional binding process for enhanced control and oversight.

How to Set Up and Fund a Sub-account on WhiteBIT

Step 1: Creating a Sub-account

Log in to your exchange account.
Navigate to the "Sub-accounts" section, usually found in account settings.
Click "Create Sub-account" and configure its parameters, including name, password, and permissions.

Step 2: Transferring Funds

To activate trading, fund the sub-account:

Go to Funds Management.
Select the sub-account to transfer funds.
Enter the amount and confirm the transfer.

This setup enables separate trading strategies while maintaining clear financial oversight.

In a nutshell…

Isolated margin trading and sub-accounts provide traders with greater risk control by keeping positions independent and preventing a single loss from impacting an entire portfolio.

This structured approach allows multiple strategies to coexist efficiently.

Especially in volatile markets, these tools are essential for safeguarding capital, optimizing execution, and maintaining financial discipline, helping traders navigate uncertainty while ensuring long-term profitability.

Isolated Margin and Sub-Accounts: Your Ultimate Defence Against Volatility