Margin mode decides which collateral backs a position. Isolated margin locks a chosen amount to one position: the most that position can lose is that amount. Cross margin shares the whole account balance across all positions: each is backed by everything you have.
01The trade-off
Cross margin keeps positions alive longer. Spare collateral elsewhere in the account pads the margin ratio, so the same position survives a bigger adverse move than in isolated mode. The cost is concentration: one bad position can drain the entire account, taking every other position with it.
Isolated margin caps the damage. A liquidation consumes that position's allocated margin and stops. The cost is fragility, since the smaller backing brings the liquidation price closer. Traders running multiple strategies usually isolate the risky ones and keep the hedges on cross.
02In liquidation data
Mode explains why some accounts produce one large liquidation event and others a rapid-fire sequence. A cross account failing margin gets its positions liquidated in a burst, which prints as a cluster of events within seconds on the same exchange. Isolated failures print as independent single events scattered across time.