MEXC Cuts AXSUSDT Leverage, Moves Funding to 4H and Adds PENGUINUSDT/SPACEUSDT to Copy Trade
MEXC updated risk and product settings on Jan 26, 2026. The exchange reduced maximum leverage for AXSUSDT futures: isolated Futures Trade max leverage fell from 125x to 50x, and Copy Trade max leverage from 75x to 50x. MEXC also changed AXSUSDT funding settlement frequency to once every four hours (example timestamps beginning at 08:00 UTC). Separately, MEXC enabled two USDT-margined perpetuals in its Copy Trade product — PENGUINUSDT and SPACEUSDT — each with a 20x copy-leverage cap. The combined moves tighten risk on AXSUSDT (smaller allowable leverage and larger, less frequent funding events) while expanding retail access via copy trading on two additional tickers. Practical implications for traders: existing high-leverage AXS positions may need rapid adjustment to meet new caps; funding-cost dynamics may shift as fewer, larger settlements can alter short-term carry and one-sided pressure; newly enabled copy-trade pairs often see short-term volume and funding volatility as follower flow mirrors leaders. Watch for similar margin changes at other venues and early funding/spread moves on PENGUINUSDT and SPACEUSDT as initial indicators of crowding or stress.
Neutral
The announcement is primarily a risk-management and product-listing change rather than a market-moving fundamental event. Lowering AXSUSDT leverage and moving funding to a four-hour cadence tightens potential for rapid, leverage-driven liquidations — a bearish microstructural effect for highly leveraged positions — but it reduces systemic risk by forcing deleveraging and limiting future position growth. Meanwhile, adding PENGUINUSDT and SPACEUSDT to Copy Trade broadens retail access and can induce short-lived volatility and funding swings as follower flows mirror leaders. Historically, exchanges cutting leverage on individual contracts (or increasing funding cadence) compresses extremes in short-term directional moves and can trigger immediate position adjustments; similar actions in the past produced transient volatility followed by reduced tail-risk in that contract. Net effect for market direction is neutral: risk parameters reduce extreme upside/downside driven by leverage (stabilizing), while copy-trade additions may briefly amplify volume and volatility in the newly listed pairs (destabilizing). Traders should watch immediate liquidation/margin-call activity on AXSUSDT, funding rate shifts over the first 2–3 settlement cycles, and funding/spread behavior on the new copy-trade perps to time entries and manage risk.