Why Is My Withdrawable Cash Smaller Than the Amount I Topped Up?
This usually happens because part of your top-up was absorbed by an existing shortfall in your Margin Level. Withdrawable Cash is not simply the money you last deposited — it is Min(Balance, Equity) − Total Used Margin. If your Margin Level was below 100% before the top-up, typically because open leveraged positions were carrying unrealised losses, a portion of the incoming funds is used to bring the Margin Level back up to a level 100% first. Only what remains beyond that point is withdrawable. Once your Margin Level has reached 100%, the remaining funds can still be withdrawn at any time. So the gap you are seeing is not a fee or a hold — it is the formula recognising that some of the new money is now backing positions that were previously under-margined.
- The usual cause: Your Margin Level was below 100% before the top-up, so part of the new funds restored it first.
- Why that happens: Open leveraged positions carrying unrealised losses pull Equity, and therefore Margin Level, down.
- The formula at work: Withdrawable Cash = Min(Balance, Equity) − Total Used Margin, not simply your latest deposit.
- What is withdrawable: Only the amount left after the Margin Level has been restored to 100%.
- Once at 100%: Any remaining funds beyond that point can still be withdrawn at any time.
- Not a fee or a hold: Nothing has been charged or frozen — the funds are backing previously under-margined positions.
- If you are in a margin call: Withdrawable Cash shows $0 until the Margin Level recovers, regardless of the top-up size.
Related questions:
Q: So where did the rest of my top-up actually go?
Nowhere — it is still in your USD Margin wallet. It has simply been counted toward restoring your Margin Level rather than sitting as free, withdrawable cash. Your Balance rose by the full top-up amount. What did not rise by the same amount is Withdrawable Cash, because the formula subtracts the margin your open positions require before telling you what is free to leave.
Q: How do unrealised losses cause this?
Equity is Balance plus unrealised profit and loss. When your open leveraged positions are down, Equity falls below Balance, and Margin Level — which is Equity divided by the margin in use — falls with it. If that ratio has dropped under 100%, new funds first close that gap. Only once the ratio is back at 100% does additional money become withdrawable.
Q: Will I get the rest back if my positions recover?
Yes. Nothing has been permanently consumed. If the unrealised losses on your open positions narrow, Equity rises, Margin Level improves, and Withdrawable Cash increases accordingly under the same formula. Closing the losing positions has the same effect, since it removes both the unrealised loss and the margin those positions were holding. Either route restores your access to the funds without any of them having been lost or charged away.
Q: Is this different from being in a margin call?
It can be either. If your Margin Level is between 70% and 99% you are formally in a margin call and Withdrawable Cash is $0 outright. If your Margin Level is at or above 100% but only just, you are not in a margin call, yet a large share of your funds is still committed as margin — so withdrawable is small rather than zero.