Leverage tier updates: what happens to open futures positions

On Binance Futures, the tier notices cited here say the change reaches positions opened before the update: “Existing positions opened before the update will be affected.” Bybit's published rule works differently. It applies new risk parameters straight away only when a trial calculation finds the account's risk low enough, and otherwise gives a 10-day buffer.

Either way, the number to watch is the maintenance margin rate attached to your position size. When it rises, the margin needed to keep the position open rises with it, and the liquidation price moves closer to the current price. A holder of spot coins with no futures position can set this kind of notice aside.

Does a leverage tier update apply to positions I already hold?

Read the first paragraph of the notice for three things: the exact contract names, the product line, and the effective time. Binance's notices name contracts such as UNFIUSDT and specify “USDⓈ-M Perpetual Contracts”; a COIN-M contract on the same coin sits outside that scope unless the notice lists it too. The time is given in UTC, for example “2023-09-08 06:30 (UTC)”.

Next comes the warning. Binance's UNFIUSDT and TRBUSDT notice pairs it with advice: “It is strongly advised to adjust the position and leverage prior to the adjustment in order to avoid any potential liquidation.” Read together, the two sentences make clear that positions already open are included. Whether your particular position is at risk depends on where it falls in the new table.

How to read the tier table when the top leverage tier is removed

A tier table has three columns that matter here: a position bracket measured in notional value, the leverage range allowed inside that bracket, and the maintenance margin rate. Larger positions sit in higher brackets with lower leverage and higher rates.

The UNFIUSDT change, effective 2023-09-08 06:30 (UTC), removed the first bracket entirely. Brackets and amounts below are in USDT notional, as in the notice:

• Before: positions up to 5,000 could use 11–20x, with a 2.00% maintenance margin rate. The next bracket, above 5,000 and up to 25,000, allowed 9–10x at 2.50%.
• After: the lowest bracket became 0 to 25,000, at 9–10x and 2.50%.

Suppose you held a UNFIUSDT position worth USDT 3,000. Its maintenance requirement would rise from 2.00% to 2.50% of notional, from USDT 60 to USDT 75, at the effective time. With the same margin in place, that narrows the distance to liquidation. The notice also takes away the leverage range you may have been using: 10x became the ceiling for every position size.

What the notice leaves unsaid is how the exchange handles a leverage setting that already sits above the new ceiling. The table gives you the new limits; for the handling of your existing setting, the futures FAQ or support is the place to ask, and before the effective time is the moment to do it.

What a tier update means when the brackets get wider

Some notices relax limits. Binance's 2024-06-12 update covered 1000BONKUSDT, RNDRUSDT, NOTUSDT, 1000FLOKIUSDT, TONUSDT and BBUSDT. For 1000BONKUSDT, the upper boundary of almost every bracket doubled while the leverage ranges and rates stayed the same. The 21–25x bracket, for instance, went from 5,000–25,000 to 5,000–50,000 (USDT notional).

Take a position with a fixed notional of USDT 40,000. Before the update it sat in the 11–20x bracket at a 2.50% maintenance margin rate; afterwards it fell inside the 21–25x bracket at 2.00%. The raw products are 40,000 × 2.50% = USDT 1,000 and 40,000 × 2.00% = USDT 800. Neither figure has had its bracket's Maintenance Amount deducted yet, so neither is the final maintenance margin, and the gap does not show a USDT 200 reduction. Binance's calculation guide gives the formula as maintenance margin = notional × maintenance margin rate − Maintenance Amount (the bracket's deduction). This historical notice does not list the deduction amounts, so this guide does not guess the final figures; recomputing the real requirement needs the full tier data from before and after the change. The same sentence about existing positions appeared in this notice, because a change in either direction still alters the numbers on an open position.

A lower maintenance rate leaves the position's exposure to price moves unchanged. It moves the point at which the exchange steps in.

Bybit risk limit adjustments and the 10-day buffer period

Bybit calls the same family of settings a risk limit. Its help page, last updated 2026-09-04 and read on 12 October 2026, lists the parameters that may change “in the event of significant changes in market conditions”: initial margin rate, maintenance margin rate, maximum leverage allowed and position limit. It also states that email notifications go out only for large-scale adjustments, not for risk limit adjustments, so a quiet inbox tells you nothing.

The rule for open positions depends on a trial calculation:

• If the post-adjustment risk is low (the page gives “Account MMR < 75%”), the new parameters apply to the account and the margin requirement may change at once.
• If the risk is higher, a 10-day buffer starts. During it, only reduce-only orders and cancellations are allowed on that pair. Existing orders are retained and conditional orders are unaffected, but new orders that would increase the position are blocked.
• When the 10 days end, the new parameters apply automatically, and the page warns that the position may then be exposed to liquidation risk.

The page suggests adding margin during the buffer, after which a Lift Restriction button can remove the limits. The ten days give you time to act; at the end of them, the new parameters apply whether or not you did.

Will a margin tier change stop a trading bot or grid strategy?

Bybit's notes say adjustments may affect strategies run through Trading Bot, TWAP and Webhook Signal Trading, and that new orders will not be placed when margin is insufficient. During a buffer period, running TWAP, Chase Order, Webhook or Iceberg strategies continue but place only reduce-only orders; a trading bot's existing perpetual positions stay open while it places no new orders. The page recommends terminating the bot manually during the buffer, or adding investment to the bot so it matches the new parameters when the buffer ends.

One more case catches people with no position at all: if your saved leverage is higher than the new maximum, Bybit says an order can be rejected with an error until you lower the leverage yourself.

What to check before a leverage and margin tier change takes effect

1. Confirm the contract name and product line match yours, character for character. “USDT” and “USDC” versions of a coin are separate contracts.
2. Convert the effective time from UTC to your local time and note it.
3. Find your position's current notional value, and the bracket it falls into under the new table.
4. Compare the old and new maintenance margin rates for that bracket, and work out the requirement in USDT.
5. Check whether your leverage setting is above the new maximum for that bracket.
6. Look for other parameters in the same notice, such as a funding rate cap or position limit.
7. List any bots, copy trades or grid strategies running on the contract.

Binance's notes add a caveat worth keeping in mind: in extremely volatile conditions the exchange “may undertake additional protective measures” without further announcement. A published tier table describes a scheduled change; it gives no promise that nothing else will move. To place this notice among the other kinds an exchange publishes, the announcement explainer sorts them by type, and the delisting guide covers the separate case where a contract is being removed.