Insurance funds and ADL: who absorbs a derivatives shortfall?

The loss after the collateral

A fast market move or poor execution can leave a losing position with negative equity. Derivatives platforms use different arrangements to allocate this deficit, including insurance reserves, backstop liquidators and automatic deleveraging. The order and scope of those mechanisms are venue-specific.

Hyperliquid's documentation describes ADL ranking opposite-side positions using unrealised profit and leverage when an account or isolated position goes negative. Selected positions are closed against the underwater position according to the published mechanism. That is a forced change to another trader's position, not an ordinary voluntary limit-order fill.

What a fund balance cannot promise

An insurance-fund number does not disclose all future losses, who controls the assets or which products it covers. Nor does the phrase no bad debt mean every participant can keep their winning exposure indefinitely. A system can restore solvency by changing somebody else's position under its rules.

For an incident reconstruction, preserve fund movements, the ADL ranking and the price used for each closure. Mark prices and liquidation execution are part of that record. Avoid applying one venue's mechanism to another because both use the same label.

Quellen und Originale

• Hyperliquid: automatic deleveraging
• Hyperliquid: liquidation mechanism