Market Data
Insurance Funds
Definition
An insurance fund is a pooled amount of money that an exchange maintains if there is a mismatch between the closing price of a leveraged position and the bankruptcy price of the same position. The funds are used to make up the difference to the side of the position that would have otherwise suffered due to the price discrepancy.Details
Example: Trader A opens a position with a bankruptcy price (the price at which the position becomes worthless to Trader A) of 7,500, while Trader B is on the opposite side of the position. Whether Trader A is long or short does not matter here, as the focus is on the bankruptcy price. If the market moves against Trader A and the position reaches the liquidation price (the price at which the exchange will start to close the position), but due to market illiquidity the actual closing price is 7,475, this results in a loss of $25 for Trader B (the difference between the expected 7,500 and actual 7,475). Because this loss would be unfair to Trader B, the insurance fund covers the missing $25. In simpler terms, the insurance fund acts as ‘gap’ insurance, protecting counterparties when an illiquid market causes a discrepancy between the expected closing price and the actual closing price.API Endpoints
Futures
/markets/futures/insurance-fund/information /markets/futures/insurance-fund/{instrument}Availability
Insurance Funds endpoints are available via REST API for the latest and historical (time series) data and WebSockets for real-time data.| Exchange | Futures Market Start Date* |
|---|---|
| Bitmex | 2016-02-28 |
| Bybit | 2022-09-12 |
| Huobi | 2020-07-31 |
| OKex | 2020-09-12 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the amount of the fund for each asset in USD or units of the asset?- The query parameter called ‘fund’ shows the number of units of that asset in the fund. For example, the BTC fund shows 2510.3140881325317 as of 8/31/22. This means there are 2510.xxx BTC in the fund.