Collateral, LTV & liquidation

This page explains the numbers behind a Helva loan in plain language.

Loan-to-value (LTV)

LTV is your loan amount divided by your collateral value. A lower LTV means you’ve posted more collateral relative to the loan — safer for everyone.

Example: borrow 10,000 against 18,000 of collateral → LTV ≈ 56%.

The two thresholds

The Anvil protocol enforces two levels, set by the protocol (not by Helva):

Threshold	What it means	Typical value
Initial LTV	The maximum LTV at which you can open the loan	~56% (ETH-based) / ~60% (BTC-based)
Liquidation threshold	If your LTV rises above this (collateral falls), the position can be liquidated	~66% (ETH-based) / ~71% (BTC-based)

flowchart LR
    A[Open loan at initial LTV] --> B[Price moves]
    B --> C{LTV vs liquidation threshold}
    C -- Below --> D[Healthy]
    C -- Above --> E[Liquidation possible]
    D -->|Price falls| B
    E -->|Top up to restore health| D

CHF loans

Displayed maximum LTV and liquidation LTV are a little lower than for a USD loan because of the FX buffer. The collateral you lock for a given LTV does not change.

Supported collateral

Only deeply liquid, battle-tested assets are accepted: WETH, wstETH, WBTC, cbBTC. This minimizes contagion risk from exploits of smaller, riskier assets.

How to stay safe

• Keep a buffer below the initial LTV.
• Turn on margin-call notifications and set your own warning levels.
• Top up collateral from your wallet whenever you want — no approval needed.
• If collateral value rises, withdraw the excess as long as you stay above the minimum collateral factor.

See Managing your loan for the day-to-day, and What happens if… for the liquidation scenario in detail.