What Is a Unified Hyperliquid Account?
What Is a Unified Account?â
On Hyperliquid, a unified account uses one USDC balance for everything: your HyperCore spot USDC is also your perpetuals balance, and it backs every market you trade. A standard account keeps spot and perpetuals in two separate balances, so you have to move USDC between them.
Gem Wallet uses unified accounts, the same way Hyperliquid's own app does.
How Your Account Becomes Unifiedâ
If your Hyperliquid account is still a standard one, Gem Wallet switches it the first time you open or increase a position:
- The switch is part of the same confirmation as your order. There's no extra step or extra screen.
- It happens once. After that, your account stays unified.
- Closing, reducing, or editing a position never triggers the switch, so an order that lowers your risk is never held up by it.
What Changes After the Switchâ
| Before (standard) | After (unified) | |
|---|---|---|
| Perpetuals balance | A separate perpetuals balance | Your HyperCore spot USDC |
| Funding it | Deposit from Arbitrum USDC or move USDC from spot | Any USDC you hold on HyperCore counts right away |
| Wallet total | Counts the perpetuals balance once | Still counts it once. Your HyperCore USDC isn't added a second time |
| Perpetuals portfolio | Covers the perpetuals balance | Value and margin usage cover your spot USDC. Volume and PnL count only perpetual trades |
What It Means for Riskâ
With one balance backing every market, a position using cross margin can draw on all your USDC on Hyperliquid. That's why Gem Wallet opens new positions with isolated margin by default, so each position can only lose the margin you set for it. See What Are Isolated and Cross Margin?