The Bank of Russia has prepared a draft under which margin trading of cryptocurrency and digital rights may become standard practice for brokers. The regulator proposes to allow such assets to be accepted as collateral for margin transactions and to permit uncovered positions on them.
What Exactly the Regulator Proposes
Brokers will be able to work with digital currencies, foreign digital instruments, and digital rights within the framework of margin operations. This means that cryptocurrency and other digital assets can be used in leveraged transactions, provided that the established conditions are met.
Both qualified and non-qualified investors will be able to enter into such transactions. For non-qualified participants, the Bank of Russia will separately set limits so that investments using borrowed funds do not exceed acceptable risk levels.
Why the Rules Needed to Be Changed
The new standards are related to the planned admission of brokers to the market for digital currencies, foreign digital instruments, and digital rights. Currently, rules for controlling uncovered positions mainly apply to traditional instruments: securities, including stocks, currencies, precious metals, and derivatives such as futures.
The Bank of Russia is not abandoning the current logic of Directive 6681-U, but is expanding it to the digital market. The main task is to integrate cryptocurrency and digital rights into the risk management system so that the broker can assess the client's collateral and respond promptly to a deteriorating position.
In settlements, the broker will focus not on the client's balance sheet and not on how the asset is reflected in accounting, but on the portfolio value and risk coverage standards. This is especially important for digital instruments: their price can change quickly, so margin control must work without delay.
What Conditions Will Appear for Digital Assets
- Conditions for accepting a digital asset as collateral or allowing an uncovered position. For such an asset, at least one clearing organization must publicly calculate a risk rate, and the instrument itself must be admitted to organized trading by a Russian trading organizer. Each broker will independently determine and disclose the list of suitable assets.
- Criteria for the homogeneity of digital assets. Interchangeable cryptocurrencies that operate on the same algorithm within one information system will be allowed to be combined into one position. If the issuance is linked to a smart contract, its address must also match. This is necessary for the correct calculation of the client's planned position and for determining the uncovered position.
- Application of NPR1 and NPR2 risk coverage standards. NPR1 shows whether the portfolio value is sufficient for the initial margin; if it falls below zero, the broker must warn the client, usually within 15 minutes. NPR2 is related to the minimum margin; if it falls below zero, the broker will have to reduce the position or increase the portfolio value.
- Rules for closing positions and restrictions on asset transfers. Brokers will generally close such positions through anonymous organized trading. Other options will be allowed only in certain cases provided for in the draft, and with price restrictions. At the same time, digital assets cannot be transferred to addresses or identifiers managed by digital depositories.
The rules are not tied to a specific coin like Bitcoin: what matters is not the asset's name, but its admission to trading, the presence of a calculated risk rate, and the ability to correctly assess the client's position. Comments and suggestions on the draft will be accepted by the Bank of Russia from July 29 to August 12, 2026. If the document is approved, it will come into force ten days after official publication.
How Margin Trading of Cryptocurrency Works
Margin trading of cryptocurrency is a transaction where a trader uses their own funds as collateral and adds borrowed money to open a position larger than their capital. The trader's own funds in such a transaction are called margin, and the ratio between the position size and the margin contributed is called leverage.
For example, with a position of 100,000 rubles and 5x leverage, the trader contributes 20,000 rubles as margin, and the rest is effectively covered by borrowed funds. Profit and loss are calculated on the entire position, not just the margin contributed, so the result changes faster than with a regular asset purchase.
The advantages of this approach are the ability to increase potential profit, use capital more efficiently, and open short positions.
- A long position is opened when a price increase is expected: the trader selects an asset, sets the position size and leverage, contributes margin, and buys the asset intending to sell it at a higher price.
- A short position is opened when a price decrease is expected: the trader selects an asset, sets the position size and leverage, sells the borrowed asset, and plans to buy it back later at a lower price.
This approach differs from spot trading in that, on the spot market, the investor buys the asset with their own funds. Futures trading is built around a contract for the future price of an asset, while margin trading is based on a position with borrowed funds and collateral.
Risks, Margin Call, and Liquidation
The main risk of margin trading is that losses grow just as quickly as potential profits. Due to the volatility of cryptocurrencies, the price can quickly move against the position, especially with high leverage.
- A margin call occurs when the collateral becomes insufficient and the broker requires the account to be topped up or the position to be reduced.
- Liquidation is the forced closing of a position if the collateral is no longer sufficient to cover the risk.
- Disadvantages compared to regular trading include the risk of rapid loss of margin, the need to constantly monitor the position, and dependence on the broker's collateral rules.
Risks can be reduced by using stop-losses, limiting position size, moderate leverage, diversification, and regular margin monitoring.
Isolated and Cross Margin
With isolated margin, a specific amount of collateral is allocated to a particular position. If the trade goes against the trader, the risk is limited to that position and the margin contributed to it.
With cross margin, collateral is taken from the overall balance of the margin account. This can support the position longer, but if there is a strong move against the trader, a larger portion of the account capital will be at risk.
For regulated margin trading, what matters is not the names of the platforms, but a set of conditions: admission of the instrument to organized trading, calculation of the risk rate, clear collateral rules, and the ability to quickly close a position if the margin deteriorates.
