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Options Trading Rules

Gate Options Margin

8 minute 51 sec ago
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Basic definitions

  1. Premium: The fee paid by the option buyer to the seller to obtain the right to exercise the option upon expiration.
  2. OTM Moneyness: Measures how far an out-of-the-money (OTM) option is from the underlying price. At-the-money (ATM) and in-the-money (ITM) options have a moneyness of 0.
  3. Initial Margin: Also known as Opening Margin, it is the minimum margin required to open a position.
  4. Maintenance Margin: The minimum margin required to keep a position from being liquidated. If the position margin falls to or below this level, liquidation will be triggered.
  5. Order Margin: Funds that are frozen when placing an order to ensure proper execution—guaranteeing that the buyer can fully pay the premium and the seller has sufficient margin to maintain the position, while also preventing excessive cost-free order placement.

Premium calculation

Transaction Type Formula
Buy Call/Put Options Premium = Order Price × abs(Order Amount) × Contract Multiplier

Example: Buy 1 BTC call option at an order price of $220, with a contract multiplier of 0.01. Premium = 220 × 1 × 0.01 = $2.20  

OTM moneyness

Option Type Formula
Call Options OTM = max(0, Strike Price – Underlying Price)
Put Options OTM = max(Underlying Price – Strike Price, 0)

Example

  • Underlying price: $115,000, Strike price: $116,000, Call option → OTM = 1,000
  • Underlying price: $115,000, Strike price: $112,000, Put option → OTM = 3,000

Initial margin calculation

Option Type Formula
Sell Call Options [max(Initial Margin Ratio 1 × Underlying Price, Initial Margin Ratio 2 × Underlying Price – OTM) + Mark Price] × abs(Position Size) × Contract Multiplier
Sell Put Options [max(Initial Margin Ratio 1 × Underlying Price × (1 + Mark Price / Underlying Price), Initial Margin Ratio 2 × Underlying Price – OTM) + Mark Price] × abs(Position Size) × Contract Multiplier

Example (Sell call options)

  • Underlying price: $115,000, Strike price: $116,000, OTM: 1,000, Mark price: $200, Contract multiplier: 0.01. Initial Margin = [max(0.10 × 115,000, 0.15 × 115,000 – 1,000) + 200] × 0.01 = [max(11,500, 16,250) + 200] × 0.01 = 16,450 × 0.01 = $164.50  

Example (Sell put options)

  • Underlying price: $115,000, Strike price: $112,000, OTM: 3,000, Mark price: $150.
  • Initial Margin = [max(0.10 × 115,000 × (1 + 150/115, 000), 0.15 × 115,000 – 3,000) + 150] × 0.01 = [max(11,515, 14,250) + 150] × 0.01 = 14,400 × 0.01 = $144.00  

Maintenance margin calculation

Option Type Formula
Sell Call Options (Maintenance Margin Ratio × Underlying Price + Mark Price) × abs(Position Size) × Contract Multiplier
Sell Put Options [max(Maintenance Margin Ratio × Underlying Price, Maintenance Margin Ratio × Mark Price) + Mark Price] × abs(Position Size) × Contract Multiplier

Example (Sell call options)

  • Underlying price: $115,000, Mark price: $200, Contract multiplier 0.01.
  • Maintenance Margin = (0.075 × 115,000 + 200) × 0.01 = 8,825 × 0.01 = $88.25  

Example (Sell put options)

  • Underlying price: $115,000, Mark price: $150.
  • Maintenance Margin = [max(0.075 × 115,000, 0.075 × 150) + 150] × 0.01 = [max(8,625, 11.25) + 150] × 0.01 = 8,775 × 0.01 =$87.75  

Order margin calculation

Transaction Type Formula
Buy Options Order Margin = Premium + Fees
Sell options Premium = min(Mark Price, Order Price) × abs(Order Amount) × Contract Multiplier
Order Margin = max(Initial Margin – Premium, 0) + Fees

Example (Sell orders)

  • Sell BTC call option with order price $210, Mark price $200
  • Premium = min(200, 210) × 0.01 = $2.00
  • Initial Margin = $164.50
  • Order Margin = max(164.50 – 2.00, 0) + Fees (1) = $163.50  

Equity and margin ratio

Item Formula
Position Value Mark Price × Position Size × Contract Multiplier
Total Position Value Σ(Mark Price × Position Size × Contract Multiplier)
Equity Account Balance + Total Position Value
Equity at Strike Price Account Balance + Σ(Mark Price × Long Positions × Contract Multiplier) + Σ(Max Strike Price × Short Positions × Contract Multiplier)
Available Balance Account Balance – Maintenance Margin – Sell Order Margin – Buy Order Margin
Margin Ratio (Maintenance Margin + Sell Order Margin) / Equity × 100%

Example

Account Balance: $5,000 1 Short call position, Maintenance margin: $88.25, Position Value: -$2.00 Equity = 5,000 – 2 = $4,998 Margin Ratio = 88.25 / 4,998 × 100% ≈ 1.77%  

Fees

Type Formula
Trading min(Trading Fee Rate × Underlying Price, 0.1 × Order Price) × abs(Order Amount) × Contract Multiplier
Call Option Settlement min(Settlement Fee Rate × Settlement Price, 0.1 × (Settlement Price – Strike Price)) × abs(Position Size) × Contract Multiplier
Put Option Settlement min(Settlement Fee Rate × Settlement Price, 0.1 × (Strike Price – Settlement Price)) × abs(Position Size) × Contract Multiplier

Margin parameters

Underlying Initial Margin Ratio 1 Initial Margin Ratio 2 Maintenance Margin Ratio
BTC_USDT 0.1 0.15 0.075
ETH_USDT 0.1 0.15 0.075
DOGE_USDT 0.15 0.2 0.1
LTC_USDT 0.15 0.2 0.1
SOL_USDT 0.15 0.2 0.1
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