NewsLiquidationBorrowingCollateral
At what LTV does a bitcoin-backed loan get liquidated?
SALT prints a ladder from 75% to 90.91% LTV; Lava sets a price, not a ratio. We read four lenders' own pages and turned SALT's triggers into BTC falls.
By Staff, Lend Ledger
A bitcoin-backed loan is liquidated at whatever trigger its own lender sets; the four lenders read here share no single number. SALT publishes a ladder: warning at 75% LTV, margin call at 83.33%, final notice at 88%, margin event at 90.91%. Lava sets a liquidation price per draw instead. The figure that binds you is in your loan agreement.
That is the short answer to at what LTV a bitcoin-backed loan gets liquidated. The longer one is that the starting LTV a lender advertises and the trigger LTV that sells your collateral are different numbers, and three of the four lender pages read here print only the first. This desk read four lenders’ own pages on 3 October 2026 to find the second.
What each lender’s own page says about its trigger LTV
Every row below comes from the lender’s own page as read on 3 October 2026. Where a page did not state a figure in the text this desk read, the row says so; that is a statement about the page, not about the lender’s contracts.
| Lender | Starting LTV on its page | Warning / margin call | Liquidation point |
|---|---|---|---|
| SALT | 30%, 50% or 70% | Warning at 75%; margin call at 83.33%; final notice at 88% | “Margin Event” (also listed as “Stabilization”) at 90.91% |
| Lava | Draws “start up to 60% LTV” | Multiple notifications as LTV rises; no figure stated | A BTC liquidation price shown when the line is opened or drawn; no LTV stated |
| Strike | 50% in its illustrative calculator | Calculator shows a margin call price; 72 hours to respond | No liquidation LTV stated on the page read |
| Ledn | “Start at 50% LTV” | Not stated on the page read | Not stated on the page read |
SALT’s explainer, published on 26 March 2026, gives the ladder twice and labels the top rung two ways: “Margin Event” in the body and “Stabilization” in its FAQ table. It does not say the loan is sold at 90.91%. It says the closer a borrower is to that level, the closer they are to forced liquidation, and it adds that thresholds may vary by loan program.
Why Lava gives a price instead of a percentage
Lava’s liquidation FAQ shows each borrower the bitcoin price at which their line will be liquidated, set to leave a buffer for the sale to cover the balance and fees. A price is easier to watch than a ratio, but it moves with every new draw, and the page publishes no fixed LTV against which to compare it with another lender.
What Strike’s calculator implies
Strike’s borrow page states no trigger LTV in words. Its illustrative calculator, as read on 3 October 2026, showed a $10,000 loan at 50% LTV against ₿0.23689778 with a margin call price of $60,303. By this desk’s arithmetic that collateral implies an entry price near $84,425, so the margin call sits about 28.6% lower, at roughly 70% LTV on principal. The page calls the figures illustrative only, and the same page offers a separate “Volatility Proof” loan with no price-driven liquidations. That product is unpacked in our Strike assessment.
How far can bitcoin fall before a SALT loan is liquidated?
The fall from a starting LTV to a trigger is 1 minus start divided by trigger. This is this desk’s arithmetic on SALT’s published figures, and it ignores accrued interest and fees, which push the LTV up faster.
| SALT starting LTV | Fall to 75% warning | Fall to 83.33% margin call | Fall to 88% final notice | Fall to 90.91% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30% | 60.0% | 64.0% | 65.9% | 67.0% |
| 50% | 33.3% | 40.0% | 43.2% | 45.0% |
| 70% | 6.7% | 16.0% | 20.5% | 23.0% |
The 70% row is the one to read twice. A 6.7% move reaches the first warning, and SALT’s own worked example shows a 70% loan pushed to 87.5% LTV, just short of its liquidation threshold. SALT’s FAQ also says the 70% tier is offered on one-year terms only.
Is a liquidation partial or total?
It depends on the lender, and the difference is larger than the trigger itself. Strike’s borrow page says only the collateral needed to restore the LTV is liquidated. Lava’s FAQ says the whole line is liquidated and Lava does not return any collateral. SALT lists adding collateral, paying down the loan, Stabilization or SALT Shield as ways to prevent liquidation, and defines liquidation as a forced collateral sale to restore LTV safety. How two lenders’ structures change who liquidates first is set out in our Ledn vs Unchained comparison, and the on-chain version of the same mechanism in our on-chain lending assessment.
Questions borrowers ask about liquidation LTV
What is a margin call on a crypto loan?
It is the lender telling you that your loan-to-value has risen past a set level and that you need to add collateral or repay part of the loan. SALT’s explainer describes a margin call as an alert triggered when LTV passes preset thresholds because the bitcoin price has fallen. It is a warning, not yet a sale; the sale comes if the LTV keeps rising and nothing is done.
How are the LTV margin triggers determined?
By the lender, and then by the contract. SALT’s own answer is that margin requirements are set by lenders, agreed by borrowers and written into each loan agreement, and that thresholds may vary by loan program. A published ladder is therefore a guide to how a lender works, and the figure that binds a particular borrower is the one in that borrower’s signed agreement.
What happens if Bitcoin crashes while I have a loan?
The collateral’s dollar value falls while the debt does not, so the LTV rises. On the pages read, the lender then warns, calls for more collateral, and finally sells. How much it sells differs: Strike’s borrow page says only the collateral needed to restore the LTV is liquidated, while Lava’s FAQ says the line is liquidated in full and no collateral is returned.
Nothing above describes any of these lenders as regulated, licensed or authorised anywhere; no register was read for this piece. Every threshold quoted is the lender’s own published figure, and the loan agreement overrides it. Borrowing against bitcoin carries a high risk of loss, up to the whole of the collateral through liquidation or counterparty failure, and nothing here is financial advice.