Bybit Lifts UTA Collateral Ratios to 80% on Big Holdings

Bybit has raised the collateral ratios applied to larger cryptocurrency positions under its Unified Trading Account (UTA) loan framework, allowing traders to count more of their holdings toward borrowing capacity. The adjustment took effect on Aug. 4 at 08:00 UTC and covers Ether, Solana, BNB, Dogecoin, XRP, Cardano, Chainlink, Litecoin, Tron, Shiba Inu, Pepe and Polkadot.

Under the previous structure, any portion of a position above the highest tier was assigned a collateral ratio of zero, meaning that excess amount contributed nothing to the account's recognized collateral value. Bybit has now assigned those oversized tiers ratios ranging from roughly 10% to 80%, depending on the asset. Ratios for several other higher position tiers were also increased, while base-tier ratios remain unchanged. As a result, the benefits are concentrated among customers with larger balances.

How the new ratios affect borrowing

A collateral ratio determines how much of an asset's market value an exchange recognizes as security for a loan or leveraged position. For example, a $1 million holding with an 80% collateral ratio contributes $800,000 to the account's margin balance, while the same holding at a 20% ratio contributes $200,000. The discount, often called a collateral haircut, is meant to account for liquidity and price risk, since liquidating a large concentrated position is generally harder than selling a smaller amount.

Previously, the portion above the highest threshold faced a 100% haircut. Under the updated ratios, that same excess can now contribute between $100,000 and $800,000 per $1 million, depending on the asset. The exact benefit for each customer will depend on the token, the applicable tier, current market prices and other positions or liabilities in the account.

The change does not create unlimited borrowing capacity. Bybit's UTA rules state that an individual borrowing limit is determined by the lowest of three figures: the customer's account-tier limit, the position-tier limit for the borrowed cryptocurrency and the liquidity remaining in the platform's lending pool. Limits are also shared between main accounts and subaccounts. Flexible-term loan rates can change with market conditions, while fixed-term loans charge interest when the loan is created.

Bybit also warned that increased leverage cuts both ways. Automatic repayment begins when the maintenance margin rate reaches 100%, with positive collateral assets converted into the borrowed currency. A 2% handling fee applies in that scenario, and derivatives positions may be liquidated if repayment does not restore the account's margin rate.

Institutional focus

Yoyee Wang, Bybit's Vice President of TradFi-RWA, said the update is especially meaningful for institutional clients, allowing them to pledge more of their holdings as effective collateral and access greater borrowing capacity. The move follows Bybit's introduction of a bank triparty structure for institutional clients, which lets approved institutions obtain stablecoin loans while cash or U.S. Treasury bills remain with a banking partner.

Bybit also expanded eligible collateral on July 31, making six tokenized equities — linked to Nvidia, Robinhood, Circle, Tesla, Alphabet and Apple — usable as collateral for margin trading, crypto loans and institutional loans. Exchanges including Bitget have made similar moves, enabling tokenized stocks and ETFs as futures collateral in June. The broader trend reflects growing competition to make assets usable across trading, lending and derivatives products, though it also ties more positions together and can force sales of unrelated holdings if collateral values decline.