Overcollateralization and collateralization ratio

Overcollateralization and collateralization ratio

In money markets, all positions need to stay overcollateralized. What this means is that users can deposit and borrow, but they must have more value in collateral assets deposited than debt in USD at all times.

Liquidation refers to the action of repaying another user's debt position and taking away a certain amount of collateral in return if their health factor drops below 1, within liquidation range.

Liquidation threshold provides a buffer for price fluctuations in case of liquidation to protect borrowers from sharp price fluctuations and potential liquidations. When a user is withdrawing or borrowing, the protocol uses the LTV ratio as well as liquidation threshold to check if the user is still overcollateralized after withdrawal or borrowing. Namely, it's called 'collateralization ratio':

Collateralization ratio=(LTV ratioi×Collateral Value in USDi)(Borrowing Value in USDiLiquidation thresholdi)\text{Collateralization ratio} = \frac{\sum (\text{LTV ratio}_i \times \text{Collateral Value in USD}_i)}{\sum (\frac{\text{Borrowing Value in USD}_i}{\text{Liquidation threshold}_i })}

where 0LTV ratio10 \leq \text{LTV ratio} \leq 1 and 0Liquidation threshold10 \leq \text{Liquidation threshold} \leq 1.

For example, given the following table:

Parameter
XRP
USDC

LTV ratio

90%

90%

Liquidation threshold

70%

100%

Price

5 USD

1 USD

Deposited amount

5 USD

1 USD

Borrowed amount

2 USD

0.3 USD

The collateralization ratio would be:

Collateralization ratio=(0.9×5)+(0.9×1)20.7+0.31.0=(4.5)+(0.9)20.7+0.3=5.42.857+0.3=5.43.157=1.71...>1\text{Collateralization ratio} = \frac{(0.9 \times 5) + (0.9 \times 1)}{\frac{2}{0.7} + \frac{0.3}{1.0}} = \frac{(4.5) + (0.9)}{\frac{2}{0.7} + 0.3} \newline = \frac{5.4}{2.857 + 0.3} = \frac{5.4}{3.157} = 1.71... > 1

In this case, the collateralization ratio is bigger than 1, so this can be the state of the user after they have successfully withdrawn or borrowed some amount from a fully functional protocol. The user needs to keep the collateralization ratio above 1.

Last updated