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Home Carl Shum Mark Price Calculation Checklist (no Surprises)

Mark Price Calculation Checklist (no Surprises)

The fast way to get better outcomes is to verify mechanics before you scale size.

What it is: Liquidation is a path, not a single event. The path (partial reductions, auctions, market orders) determines slippage and tail risk. If you see unexplained liquidations, compare index updates to mark sampling and check whether outlier filters are documented.

What to check: An AI risk layer should be explainable: it can rank anomalies, but deterministic guardrails must remain stable and auditable.

How to test it: If you automate, use scoped API keys, IP allow-lists, and exponential backoff. Limits often tighten exactly when volatility rises. Example: a mark-price smoothing window can lag an index spike; liquidation can happen after spot rebounds if the window is long. Treat cross margin as a correlated portfolio. Correlations converge during stress, so diversification can vanish when you need it most.

Common pitfalls: Pitfall: assuming mark price equals last price. In stress, they diverge, and liquidation triggers can surprise you.

Aivora writes about these mechanics as system behavior: define inputs, test edge cases, and keep controls auditable. Derivatives are risky; test assumptions before you scale size.

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.