Placing a limit order can lower your Margin Level straight away, before the order fills and even if it never fills. Cancelling it brings the number back up. This is not a bug: your account is always measured against the worst possible outcome.

The three scenarios Bitso calculates

A limit order rests on the order book until the market reaches your price. Market orders execute immediately, so they never stay open. To set your Margin Level, Bitso looks at your account three ways:

• Your balances as they stand now, as if every open limit order were cancelled.
• Your balances if every open limit order filled.
• Your balances if any single open limit order filled on its own. Bitso runs this calculation for each open order and keeps the lowest result.

All three scenarios use the same calculation: the value of your account after subtracting your debt, divided by that debt. Your Margin Level is the lowest of the three results.

Why Bitso measures it this way

An open limit order can look like it offsets a debt while the debt is still there. If only one scenario were used, your Margin Level could look healthy and then fall into liquidation with no warning. Measuring the worst case gives you time to react.

What this means for you

• Placing a limit order can lower your Margin Level immediately, before it fills.
• Cancelling a limit order can bring the number back up.
• A single order can pull your Margin Level down on its own, even when your overall position looks healthy.
• Orders that would put your account at immediate risk if they filled are rejected when you place them.
• Transfers out of your Margin Wallet go through the same worst-case check.
• With no open limit orders and no debt, all three scenarios match and your Margin Level stays at its maximum.

Example: you have no open orders and your Margin Level is 2.10×. You place a large limit buy order that would need borrowed funds to fill. Your Margin Level drops to 1.60× immediately, even though nothing has filled. Cancel the order and it returns to 2.10×.